<Articles>The Formation and Development of Senju Nenbutsu Congregations in the Kamakura Period (Special Issue : PRAYER)

During the early Kamakura period, Senju nenbutsu congregations, whose formation was closely linked to Honen, separated into many different schools and developed throughout the Ration. In regard to the development of these Senju nenbutsu congregations as separate congregations, previous scholarship employing the paradigms of New Kamakura Buddhism of the Exoteric-Esoteric System has generally understood this development as due to the Senju nenbutsu side making theoretical compromises and conforming to the system. In other words, it can be said that there has been an emphasis on theoretical aspects and the process of the formation of the clerical groups at the core of these congregations has not been sufficiently considered. This article then considers the impetus behind formation of these groups of monks and the temples associated with them as the axis of the development of the Senju nenbutsu congregations throughout the Kamakura period. I first considered the school of Shoku, one of Honen's most influential disciples. The clerical group that was formed during Shoku's lifetime split into two. One was a group of monks who used Shoku's activities as a reclusive monk (tonseso) as a foundation for their activities at the Seizan Ojo- in, near the Tendai satellite temple of Yoshiminedera, and at Jokyoji in Settsu province. The other group, which was made up of the monks of Kangishin-in and Kenko-in, had been formed under the protection of Go-Saga'in and Kujo Michiie, and these monks founded these temples and conducted Buddhist services in response to the requests of their protectors. In this fashion, Shoku had formed several clerical groups in the vicinity of Kyoto, but after his death, each of these groups of monks prospered or declined in their own way. For example, the monks at Seizan Ojo-in emphasized Tendai training in the selection of their abbot, and they remained under the influence of the head temple, Enryakuji, and noble sub-temple Shoren-in, maintaining themselves to the last as a clerical group formed on the margins as a Tendai satellite temple. On the other hand, for the groups of monks that had been formed due to the faith of Shoku's patrons and for those groups of Shoku's disciples who formed after obtaining new protectors, the relationships to these protectors were most important. In short, as long as these relationships went well, the clerical group could stably sustain itself, but if the relationship with protectors was ruined, and a new protector could not be found, the clerical group would not be able to sustain itself. In contrast, the disciples of Shinran and those of Ryochu (known as the adherents of the Chinzei principles), who were to show great growth during the Sengoku period, first formed clerical groups or groups of followers in regions removed from the capital, but eventually formed leading temples and clerical groups in Kyoto that differed in character from those of Shoku's school. These were temples founded on the principle of worship of the patriarch. Specifically, in regard to the followers of Shinran, Honganji, whose point of origin was the grave of Shinran, was precisely this type. Although it received a degree of support from aristocratic Shoren-in temple, Honganji was sustained as a temple based on faith in the patriarch Shinran, observing a Buddhist service on the anniversary of the death of Shinran. Also, in the case of the of Ryochu's followers of the principles of Chinzei, it was after their advance into the capital of Kyoto in the latter part of the Kamakura period that they collaborated with Nyoku, whose activities could be traced back in the clerical lineage to Genchi in Kyoto, and then proceeded on to Chion-in, a temple linked directly to the legacy of Honen. Chion-in had been destroyed in the persecution of the Karoku era (Karoku no honan) by the monks of Enryakuji, but, it was soon restored and thereafter administered by the monks of Shoku's school. When Nyoku praised the achievements of