840 fabio rambelliScholars now identify two main phases in the formation of kami
doctrines and practices based on esoteric Buddhism. In the early
phase, between the end of the Heian and the mid-Kamakura (1185–
1333) periods, texts such as the Tenshō Daijin giki (also
known as the Hōshi kashō kuden ), the Nakatomi no
harae kunge (early Kamakura), and the Mitsuno kashiwa denki
appeared. During the later phase, from the late Kamakura
to Nanbokuchō periods (1336–1392), the Yamato Katsuragi
hōzanki , the Ryōgū gyōmon jinshaku ,
the Ryōgū honzei rishu makaen , the Jindaikan
hiketsu , and the Reikiki , among others, were
composed.^1
The most influential Shingon traditions within Ryōbu Shintō were
the Miwaryū and the Goryū. The Miwaryū was centered
on Mt. Miwa south of Nara at the Ōgorinji (or Dai-
gorinji). This temple controlled the Miwa Shrine, which was initially
part of the temple network affiliated with the Saidaiji in Nara.
The Miwa deity, Miwa Daimyōjin , was an emanation of a
much earlier mountain cult, but it appears that by the late Kamakura
period it came to be associated with the Womb Mandala in combina-
tion with Ise’s Amaterasu, which originated instead from the Vajra
Mandala. The Goryū Shintō developed at the Murōji , a moun-
tain temple located in Yamato between Nara and Ise. The term goryū
(“noble lineage”) comes from a legend in which Emperor Saga
(r. 809–823) transmitted certain secret teachings, related to the
imperial regalia, to Kūkai , who supposedly combined them
with the cult of the wish-fulfilling jewel (cintāmaṇi; nyoi hōju
).
The teachings of both the Miwaryū and the Goryū were transmit-
ted through numerous initiation rituals, collectively known as jingi
kanjō or shintō (or, perhaps, jindō) kanjō (liter-
ally, “abhiṣeka concerning secret teachings about the kami”). The most
important among them were the Ama no iwato kanjō
(on the legend of the Heavenly Cavern in which Amaterasu secluded
herself and plunged the world into darkness), the sanshu jingi kanjō
(on the three imperial regalia), the waka kanjō
(^1) For a representative sample of a later text, see the English translation of the Ise
shōsho Nihongi yūshiki honshō nin denki by Faure 2000.