Kūya (空也;Japanese pronunciation:[kɯː.ja],[12] 903–972) was an itinerant Japanesehijiri (ascetic,聖), later ordained in theTendai sect, who was an early proselytizer of the practice of thenembutsu amongst the populace. Kūya's efforts helped promotePure Land Buddhism to the capital at a time when the movement was first gaining traction in Japan. For his efforts, Kūya earned the nameichi hijiri (hijiri of the marketplace) andAmida hijiri.[13] Kūya was known for taking images with him on his travels and added musical rhythm and dance to his prayers, known asodori nembutsu.[14] LikeGyōki, he is said to have performed works for the public benefit, such as building roads and bridges, digging wells, and burying abandoned corpses.[15][16][17]
Biographies of Kūya were written by his friends and followersJakushin andMinamoto no Tamenori, and Number 18 of theRyōjin Hishō derives from 'Kūya's Praise'.[15][18] The late tenth-century collection of biographies of those who had attained rebirth inSukhavati, the Pure Land of Amitābha, theNihon ōjō gokuraki ki, attributes to Kūya the devotion of all Japan to the nembutsu.[17] He is also known as founder ofRokuharamitsu-ji where he later died.[19][13]
Details of Kūya's life are very scant prior to 938, but the existing biographies state that Kūya, possibly of Imperial lineage, took tonsure at a temple inOwari Province in his youth, travelled to various holy sites, and performed good works in the community.[13] Later, Kūya travelled toAwa andTosa provinces before undertaking austerities at a place called Yushima (湯島) before a statue ofKannon. After attaining a vision of Kannon, he traveled to other provinces and eventually came toHeian-kyō, the capital, in 938. Due to an ongoing revolt, many people from the provinces were displaced and relocated to the capital. Kūya was said to have begged for food and then distributed it to refugees and others suffering. Additionally, Kūya constructedstupas and hanging scrolls depicting Kannon and Amitābha. Since his early years travelling the provinces, Kūya employed the nembutsu as a means of magically transporting the dead to Sukhavati. This was in contrast to the prevailing practice, where the dead were left to decompose where they were found.[13]
Kūya was fully ordained as a monk in 948 in the Tendai Buddhist sect atEnryaku-ji onMount Hiei,[13] and continued promoting the practice of the nembutsu while engaging in other activities. In 963, Kūya staged a grand ceremony to commemorate the completion of a copy of theMahaprajnaparamita Sutra, begun in 950 and relying on community donations, and composed in gold ink. Research suggests this sutra project was intended to relieveepidemics and pacify the spirits of the dead.[13] The biographies continue describing further miracles performed by Kūya until his death in 972.
Kūya's followers commemorated his death for 48 nights from 13 November onwards, by bowl-beating (hachi-tataki) in and around Kyoto.[20] Thehaiku poets were very struck by this practice, making 'cold prayers' (kan-nembutsu) a set topic,[21] and giving rise toMatsuo Bashō's famous tribute: "Dried salted salmon, / Kūya's emaciation also, / During the coldest season".[22]
Kūya played a decisive role in the early dissemination of Pure Land teachings in Japan, especially through the popularization of thenenbutsu among both commoners and members of the aristocracy in the capital. His instruction presented the recitation of Amida Buddha’s name as a direct and accessible means of attaining rebirth in thePure Land, addressing widespread anxieties about salvation in an age marked by social and political instability. By teaching ordinary people to rely on the nenbutsu for their own liberation, Kūya articulated a path that did not require elite learning or institutional affiliation, thereby significantly broadening the social base of Pure Land devotion.[13]
Scholars have long debated Kūya’s religious identity and his relation to thehijiri. In later scholarship, hijiri are often described as itinerant ascetics who lived outside formal institutions, practiced austerities, and engaged in compassionate activities that benefited society at large. Kūya shares several of these traits: he was privately ordained, remained unaffiliated with established schools for much of his life, practiced ascetic disciplines, and undertook public works such as building infrastructure for the benefit of the populace. These features help explain why he was popularly remembered as the “hijiri of the marketplace” and the “Amida hijiri.”[13]
However, closer examination of Heian sources suggests that Kūya’s teachings and activities diverged from the more restricted contemporary understanding of hijiri as reclusive mountain ascetics who avoided worldly engagement. Rather than withdrawing from society, Kūya actively interacted with the urban population and employed the spiritual power gained through austerities in highly visible ways. His contemporaries primarily associated him with miraculous powers, a feature repeatedly emphasized in biographical accounts.[13] From this perspective, Kūya’s nenbutsu can be understood as a ritual practice endowed with extraordinary salvific power, especially in relation to the dead. Like other Heian monks skilled in ascetic and esoteric disciplines, he was believed to possess the capacity to guide deceased spirits to the Pure Land through nenbutsu recitation. His repeated acts of cremating corpses while chanting Amida’s name and his participation in large-scale rites for the benefit of the departed indicate that concern for postmortem salvation was a central component of his teaching.[13]
Nevertheless, Kūya’s religious teaching cannot be reduced solely to a funerary or ritual technology. Although his biographies emphasize asceticism, compassionate deeds, and miraculous acts more than doctrinal exposition, they also indicate that he encouraged the living to recite the nenbutsu for their own liberation. Moreover, his devotion was not limited to Amida Buddha alone. He also showed deep reverence for other figures, particularly the bodhisattvaKannon, whom he honored through major artistic commissions and temple worship. This combination of Pure Land faith, thaumaturgic practice, social compassion, and plural devotion suggests that Kūya articulated a complex and inclusive form of Buddhism, in which the nenbutsu was central but not exclusive, and salvation was pursued through multiple, mutually reinforcing religious means.[13]
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