12 Foetal Buddhahood: From Theory to Practice â Embryological Symbolism in the Autumn Peak Ritual of Haguro Shugendo

Gaynor Sekimori

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12 Foetal Buddhahood: From Theory to Practice â Embryological Symbolism in the Autumn Peak Ritual of Haguro Shugendo

In: Transforming the Void

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Gaynor Sekimori

Gaynor Sekimori
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 522â557

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004306523_014

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Abstract

This chapter analyses the embryological and sexual symbolism found within the annual mountain-entry ritual of Haguro Shugendo called the Autumn Peak (Akinomine), using both written sources and ritual procedures, together with the results of participant observation over fifteen years. It looks first at the embryological symbolism associated with the attire and accoutrements of the practitioners (shugenja), based mainly on a collection of Haguro kirigami (memos of ritual instructions) called the HÅgushÅ«, collected in the seventeenth century. It then studies the meaning of the womb, intercourse and conception, the stages of gestation, and birth as they are defined and practiced in the ritual procedures of the Akinomine. Finally, it examines the sexual symbolism associated with the sacred places visited by shugenja in the latter stages of the Akinomine. These findings demonstrate that Haguro Shugendo consciously employed the sexual imagery and symbolism found within wider medieval esoteric discourse in Japan and adapted it to both physical action and to a ritual imaginaire intended to make shugenja experience the passage through death and rebirth, which was a precondition of their realising buddhahood in that very time and place (sokushin jÅbutsu).â©

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Transforming the Void

Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions

Series:Â Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series, Volume: 16

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004306523

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2016

Subjects
- Asian Studies
  - East Asia
  - China
  - Japan
  - Religion
- Religious Studies
  - Religion in Asia

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12 Foetal Buddhahood: From Theory to Practice â Embryological Symbolism in the Autumn Peak Ritual of Haguro Shugendo

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Transforming the Void

Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions

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12 Foetal Buddhahood: From Theory to Practice â Embryological Symbolism in the Autumn Peak Ritual of Haguro Shugendo