| Ji-shū | |
|---|---|
| 時宗 | |
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| Classification | Pure Land Buddhism |
| Headquarters | Shōjōkō-ji |
| Founder | Ippen, Taa Amidabutsu |
Ji-shū (時宗, lit. time sect) is a Japanese school ofPure Land Buddhism founded by theitinerantasceticIppen and his disciples. The school has around 500 temples and 3,400,000 followers. The school is also known for its practices of dancing nembutsu (nembutsu odori) and for the distribution of nembutsu talismans (ofuda).Shōjōkō-ji (清浄光寺), atemple located inFujisawa, Kanagawa, serves as the headquarters of the sect today.[1][2]
Ji-shū means "school of time" and the name is derived from its central practice of chanting theNembutsu at regular intervals.[3][4] This refers to specific periods of intense uninterrupted nembutsu practice that Ippen's group would undertake at certain times of the year. During these retreats, different monks would take turns in leading the chant during the six four-hour periods of the day.[5][6] According to J. H. Foard, the intended meaning of the term is equivalent to “twenty four hours a day nembutsu group.”[6]
Ji-shū is one of the four Pure Land Tradition (Jōdo kei, 浄土系) schools ofJapanese Buddhism, the others beingJōdo-shū, theJōdo Shinshu, andYuzu Nembutsu.[7][8]
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Key figures
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The initial order which led to the sect was founded in by the itinerant Pure Land ascetic (nembutsu hijiri)Ippen.[4] In addition to the practice ofnembutsu,[9] Ippen was strongly influenced by the teachings of the Pure Land masterShōkū, as well the practices of past wandering holy men (hijiri) likeKūya (903–972) and the hijiris ofMt. Kōya.[10][11] Ippen was also influenced byZen Buddhism and he even receivedDharma transmission as aZen master fromRōshi Kakushin.[12][13]
Ippen led his order on continual wandering throughoutJapan (a practice calledyugyō), visiting all major towns and holy places and gathering a following. The group promoted nembutsu practice to all people (including peasants andoutcasts) through practices like the dancing nenbutsu and the distribution of talismans orofuda.[14] Ippen's community adopted numerous other religious practices from past wandering hijiri and local traditions like theyamabushi including mountain asceticism, pilgrimages to sacred places, retreats at sacred places hoping to receive divine messages in dreams or visions, funeral rites, and "the keeping of a register for recording the names of the faithful."[15]
After Ippen's death, the Ji-shū sect he had led initially disbanded. Key disciples, like Taa Amidabutsu andShōkai continued to practice and promote Ippen's teachings.Shōkai went on to foundKankikō-ji temple in 1291. He also wrote theIllustrated Biography of the Itinerant Monk Ippen (Ippen hijiri-e), the oldest surviving Ippen biography.[16] In 1292, three years after Ippen's death, Ippen's birthplace,Hōgon-ji, was rebuilt by his disciple Sen'a and became a key Ji-shū temple.
The current Ji-shū religious order regards Ippen as its founder, but its formal establishment as a sect was due to the work of Taa Amidabutsu and the later policies of theTokugawa shogunate. From an institutional perspective, the key founder of Ji-shū was Taa Amidabutsu Shinkyō, who reorganized the various hijiri groups into a formal organization of wandering ascetics after Ippen's passing.[17]
As part of his organization efforts, Ta'a introduced the doctrine of "devotion to knowledge" (知識帰命,chishiki kimyō), which positioned monks of the Ji-shū as "messengers of the Buddha" (仏の御使い,futsu no o tsukai) in relation to ordinary believers and required believers pledge obedience to them. After that, the leaders of the sect who succeeded Ippen and Ta'a were called Yugyo Shonin (遊行上人), who, like Ta'a, traveled around the country, practicing scheduled nembutsu and nembutsu dance.
Taa also established specific precepts and regulations for the Jishū monks, molding it into a proper religious institution. In 1304, Taa handed over the wandering group to the third leader of Ji-shū, Ryōa. Taa himself established a thatched hut in Sagami Province known as the Tōma Dōjō, where he stayed until the end of his life. This would later become the Konkōin Muryōkōji temple. The Jishu sect thrived during theMuromachi period, but later declined in size, as other Pure Land schools likeJōdo Shinshū grew.[17]
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In the mid-Muromachi period, thesarugaku performersKan'ami andZe'ami bore the Buddhist name of the Jishū sect, being known asDōbō-shū, Buddhist sculptors, and garden designers. The Jishū sect reached their heyday as influential cultural leaders during this time, but leading a large number of Nembutsu practitioners on their travels entailed many difficulties and the sect slowly became more based on temples and shrines. As the sect developed, it also began to approach those in power in order to carry out its travels smoothly. However, the more it relied on the patronage of theshogunate and feudal lords (daimyo), the more it lost its popularity with the common people. The Ji-shū sect's influence was also eroded by the missionary activities of theJōdo Shinshū andSōtō sects, which were growing more popular with the lower classes.
In theEdo period (1600 to 1868), the lineages of Ikkō Shūshin and Koku'a, which are thought to have originally been separate hijiri systems, were absorbed into a formal Ji-shū sect that combined all temples aligned with Taa Amidabutsu's line along with other hijiri temples that regarded Kūya as a founder. This combination of sects was done under pressure fromTokugawa government policies.
These various sects which came together into the modern "Ji-shū school" are known as "the 12 schools of Ji-shū". The mainstream was the Yugyō school whose main temples wereYugyō-ji (遊行寺) and Shichijo Dojo Konko-ji. The Ji-shū sect declined in size in comparison to other schools during this period. Nevertheless, under the Shogunate'shan system, the practice of yugyō (itinerant monasticism) was supported with the backing of the Shogunate, and Ji-shū monks traveled all over the country, including areas without Ji-shū temples.
In 1871, the Ji-shū sects fell into a difficult position due to the order to confiscate temple lands and the order to abolish the use of shrine money. Furthermore, the anti-Buddhist movement (haibutsu kishaku) led to the destruction of Ji-shū temples in the territories of theSatsuma Domain andSado Island, which were considered Ji-shū strongholds. In 1940, Ippen Shonin was bestowed the title of "Shosei Daishi" (証誠大師). In response to this, during theSecond World War, Ji-shū cooperated with the government by forming the Ji-shū Patriotic Association and establishing the Yugyoji branch temple inMukden,Manchuria.
In 1943, theIkkō-shū sect left Ji-shū and joined theJōdo-shū sect.
Though it is significantly smaller than theJōdo-shū andJōdo Shinshū sects, the Ji-shū remains a living and influential tradition inJapanese Buddhism, with over 400 active temples today.[18] One of the most influential figures in the 20th century was Enju Kato 加藤円住 (1919–2021) abbot of the head temple ofShōjōkō‑ji (清浄光寺).[18]
Enju Kato's teaching centers on an existential and psychological understanding of Ippen's teaching of renunciation and letting go. He interprets renunciation as the act of releasing self-centered desires, relinquishing attachment to outcomes, and suspending egocentric control. For Kato, this act of inward “letting go” is not a mere preliminary purification but a direct trigger for the manifestation oftariki, the saving activity of Amitābha.[18] Kato attributes decisive soteriological efficacy to what he calls “nothingness” (mu) and “true voidness and wondrous existence” (shinkū myōu).[18] He understands renunciation as a method for cutting through fear, attachment, and discursive agitation so that the mind drops into this state of emptiness, which is not static but dynamic Buddha-nature. In this framework, relinquishment removes the occlusions that conceal the inherently salvific nature shared between the practitioner and Amitābha, enabling the “oneness of self and other” (jitai ichinyo) to emerge functionally. Thus, for Kato, the salvific force of Amitābha is not only external but is also the activity of the Buddha-nature revealed through renunciation. This turns Ippen's ascetic ideal into a psychospiritual process culminating in a responsive, mysterious power that intervenes in concrete life-situations.[18]
Kato's reinterpretation of Ippen is paralleled by transformations in ritual and institutional practice at Shōjōkō-ji. The temple retains core Jishū practices such as distribution offusan slips,odori nembutsu, and the ethos of itinerancy while also adapting them to modern forms more tailored to temple life and the lay community than the celibate itinerant asceticism of the early Ippen community.[18]
The Ji-shū sect is known for its recitation ofnembutsu at certain intervals throughout the day, scheduled sessions of chanting (hence the nameJi-shū "Time sect"), the handing out of slips of paper with thenembutsu written on them (fuda),[3] and keeping a register of the converted.
Ji monks also practice itinerant wandering (yugyō), traveling around the country staying at different places in order to spread the teachings.
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