. goddess genealogy 897
Yasuro Abe 1989, 115–69; Ruppert 2000, 43–141). As cloistered sov-
ereigns (insei ), beginning with Shirakawa (1053–1129, r.
1072–1086), rose to reclaim their power from the Fujiwara regents
by creating a parallel political establishment, possession of a relic-
jewel took on increasing importance, and Ono Shingon ritual offered
the chief religious institutional support for their legitimacy in a rit-
ual system that featured Nyoirin and her jewel. Many Ono monks
were famous for their thaumaturgic talents, and their expertise in
the production of cintāmaṇi and relic worship also helped establish
their position at court. Sometime from the late tenth to the mid-elev-
enth centuries onward, for example, Ono monks were among those
who performed daily and monthly “Kannon offering” (Kannon ku
) rites in the Futama area of the imperial palace, adjacent
to the sovereign’s chamber, in which Nyoirin was worshipped along
with Jūichimen Kannon and Shō Kannon for the
protection of the sovereign and nation.^11
Out of this miracle-working, jewel-worshipping tradition emerged
the monk Kakuzen (1143–ca. 1213) of Kanjuji (or Kajuji) ,
compiler of the Kakuzen shō. 12 He describes many kinds of efficacious
rituals in this encyclopedic work, including a large number involving
cintāmaṇi and relic veneration. Kakuzen’s lengthy chapter on Nyoi-
rin draws on several sources and betrays a highly practical focus. The
“jewel woman” passage appears in a list of worldly benefits that cites
two main texts, the Ruyilun tuoluoni jing ( Nyoirin
darani kyō) and an obscure work referred to only as the Beppongi
.^13 When Kakuzen cites the dhāraṇī sūtra he downplays its vast
(^11) These monks included, among others, Shōbō’s direct disciple Kangen (854–
925), as well as Kangen’s disciple Kangū (884–972) and the Daigoji monk Gengō
(914–995). On these rituals see Abe Yasuro 1989, 123–25, 135–36; Iyanaga 2002,
575–76; and Ruppert 2000, 147–48. See also Inoue Kazutoshi 1992, 36. On this and
other rites involving Kannon and wish-fulfilling jewels, see Ruppert 2002, 2–11. In
addition to these rites, probably beginning during the reign of the sovereign Gosanjō
(1034–1073, r. 1068–1072), a series of rituals for protection of the sover-
eign called the “three altars rites” (sandan mishihō ) was also held in the
Futama, and included Tendai monks from Enryakuji performing rites to Nyoirin.
(^12) Kakuzen’s two main teachers were Kōzen (1121–1203) and Shōken
(1138–1196). Kōzen, also of Kanjuji, was the author of the Gojukkanshō ,
a similarly vast collection of ritual and iconographic lore whose tradition Kakuzen
passed down in his own compilation.
(^13) See Ruyilun tuoluoni jing, T. 1080; the translation is attributed to Bodhiruci
(572–727) and dated 709 C.E. Iyanaga Nobumi has noted the peculiarly sexual