Gongen


A, literally "incarnation", was believed to be the manifestation of a buddha in the form of an indigenous kami, an entity who had come to guide the people to salvation, during the era of shinbutsu-shūgō in premodern Japan. The words and are synonyms for gongen. is the term for belief in the existence of gongen.
The gongen concept is the cornerstone of the honji suijaku theory, according to which Buddhist deities choose to appear to the Japanese as native kami in order to save them, which is based on the Mahayana Buddhist notion of upaya, "expedient means".

History

It is sometimes assumed that the word gongen derives from Tokugawa Ieyasu's posthumous name. However, the term was created and started being used in the middle of the Heian period in an effort to harmonize Buddhism and indigenous religious practice in what is called shinbutsu-shūgō or "syncretism of kami and buddhas". At that time, the assumption that Japanese kami and buddhas were essentially the same evolved into a theory called honji suijaku, which held that native kami were manifestations or avatars of buddhas, bodhisattvas and other Buddhist deities. The theory gradually spread around the country and the concept of gongen, a dual entity composed of a buddha and a kami, evolved.
Under the influence of Tendai Buddhism and Shugendō, the gongen concept was adapted to religious beliefs tied to Mount Iwaki, a volcano, so that female kami Kuniyasutamahime became associated with Avalokiteśvara ekadaśamukha, Ōkuninushi with Bhaisajyaguru and Kuninotokotachi with Amitābha.
The title "gongen" started being attached to the names of kami and shrines were built within the premises of large Buddhist temples to enshrine their tutelary kami. During the Japanese Middle Ages, shrines started being called with the name gongen to underline their ties to Buddhism. For example, in Eastern Japan there are still many Mount Haku shrines where the shrine itself is called either gongen or jinja. Because it represents the application of Buddhist terminology to native kami, the use of the term was legally abolished in the Meiji Restoration with the Shinbutsu bunri and shrines began to be called jinja.

Gongen of Japan

  • Amaterasu – Sun goddess, sometimes regarded in syncretic contexts as a gongen of Dainichi Nyorai.
  • Atago Gongen – Tengu-associated protector of fire defense, particularly worshipped by warriors on Mount Atago.
  • – Protector against fire disasters, worshipped at Akiba shrines.
  • – Protector deity in certain Shugendō lineages.
  • Hachiman – Shinto god of war and protector of Japan, syncretised with the deity Bishamon.
  • Gozu Tennō - Ox King of healing.
  • – Associated with various mountain cults.
  • – Guardian of Mount Haguro, central to Haguro Shugendō.
  • – Mountain and lake deity of Hakone.
  • – Mountain worship deity of Hakusan; linked to Hakusan Shugendō.
  • – Guardian deity of Mount Hiko in Kyushu.
  • – Guardian of Nikkō, central to Nikkō Shugendō.
  • Fūjin
  • – Guardian of Mount Ishizuchi, also associated with Ishizuchi Kongō Zaō Dai Gongen.
  • Izuna Gongen, also called "Izuna Myōjin" and enshrined in Izuna Shrine in Nagano, is similar to a tengu and represents the kami of Mount Iizuna.
  • Izusan Gongen or Hashiri-yu Gongen is the spirit of a hot spring on Izusan, a hill in Shizuoka Prefecture, enshrined in the Izusan Jinja
  • Kumano Gongen, also known as Three Mountains of Kumano. The kami enshrined in the three Kumano Sanzan Grand Shrines and worshipped in Kumano shrines are the three Kumano mountains: Hongū, Shingū, and Nachi.
  • Konpira Gongen – Sea and maritime safety deity, associated with Kotohira-gū.
  • Kōjin – Hearth and fire kami, revered for protection in domestic traditions.
  • Kuzuryū – The nine-headed dragon kami tied to water and mountain worship.
  • – Connected to Hakusan Shugendō tradition.
  • Matarajin
  • Myōken - King of the North Star.
  • – Historical form of Nezu Shrine’s deity in Tokyo.
  • Ōkuninushi - likewise associated with Daikokuten in Buddhist syncretism.
  • – A wrathful protective deity of certain Shugendō sects.
  • Sannō Gongen or Hie Sannō Daigongen is a guardian deity worshiped in Tendai spread from Mount Hiei. It is treated as a Buddhist title of Shinto Oyamakui no Kami.
  • Sekizan Myōjin
  • Seiryū Gongen was enshrined in Jingo-ji in Takao as the tutelary kami of Shingon Buddhism by Kūkai.
  • – Linked to Katayama Shrine in Kameyama; associated with miko and kugutsu traditions.
  • Shinra Myōjin
  • – Enshrines spirits of prominent historical figures.
  • – Guardian deity of waterfalls in sacred mountains.
  • Tengu
  • is one of the most famous examples of gongen, representing Tokugawa Ieyasu posthumously enshrined in so-called Tōshō-gū shrines present all over Japan. The original one is Nikkō Tōshō-gū in Nikkō, Tochigi.
  • Ugajin – Snake-bodied harvest deity, syncretised with Benzaiten.
  • – Shugendō deity linked to esoteric yoga practices.
  • Zaō Gongen or Kongō Zaō Bosatsu one of two Zaō Gongen manifestations in Japan. The trio from the Omine mountain range is a manifestation of Shakyamuni Tathagata, Sahasrabhuja Avalokitesvara, and Maitreya. Ishizuchi Kongo Zaō Dai Gongen is the 2nd manifestation. The trio of Mount Ishizuchi is a manifestation of Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahasthamaprapta.

    ''Gongen-zukuri''

is the name of a complex Shinto shrine structure in which the haiden, or worship hall, and the honden, or main sanctuary, are interconnected under the same roof in the shape of an H. One of the oldest examples of gongen-zukuri is Kitano Tenmangū in Kyoto. The name comes from Nikkō Tōshō-gū in Nikkō because it enshrines the Tōshō Daigongen and adopts this structure.