Gongen#Gongen-zukuri

File:NikkoToriiTablet5127.jpg at Nikkō Tōshō-gū reads "Tōshō Daigongen" (calligraphy by Emperor Go-Mizunoo)]]It is sometimes assumed that the word gongen derives from Tokugawa Ieyasu's posthumous name (Tōshō Daigongen). 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".Tamura (2000:87) At that time, the assumption that Japanese kami and buddhas were essentially the same evolved into a theory called {{nihongo|honji suijaku|本地垂迹}}, 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 (Jūichimen Kannon Bosatsu, "Eleven-Faced Guanyin"), Ōkuninushi with Bhaisajyaguru (Yakushi Nyōrai) and Kuninotokotachi with Amitābha (Amida Nyōrai).Breen, Teeuwen (2000:194)

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.Tamura (2000:87) During the Japanese Middle Ages, shrines started being called with the name gongen to underline their ties to Buddhism.Encyclopedia of Shinto, [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=790 Gongen shinkō], accessed on October 5, 2008 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 {{nihongo|Shinto and Buddhism Separation Order|神仏判然令|Shin-butsu Hanzenrei}} and shrines began to be called jinja.

• {{nihongo|Izuna Gongen|飯網の権現}}, also called "Izuna Myōjin" and enshrined in Izuna Shrine in Nagano, is similar to a tengu and represents the kami of Mount Iizuna.Encyclopedia of Shinto, [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=193 Izuna Gongen], accessed on October 6, 2008
• {{nihongo|Izusan Gongen|伊豆山権現}} or {{nihongo|Hashiri-yu Gongen|走湯権現}} is the spirit of a hot spring on Izusan, a hill in Shizuoka Prefecture, enshrined in the Izusan JinjaJaanus, Izusan Gongen, accessed on October 6, 2008.
• {{nihongo|Kumano Gongen|熊野権現}}, also known as {{nihongo|Three Mountains of Kumano|熊野三山}}.Encyclopedia of Shinto, [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=1076 Kumano Shinkō], accessed on October 6, 2008[http://www.sekaiisan-wakayama.jp/english/s_sanzan.htm Kumano Sanzan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609225919/http://www.sekaiisan-wakayama.jp/english/s_sanzan.htm |date=2008-06-09 }}, World Heritage Registration Association, accessed on October 13, 2008 The kami enshrined in the three Kumano Sanzan Grand Shrines and worshipped in Kumano shrines are the three Kumano mountains: Hongū, Shingū, and Nachi.
• {{nihongo|Sannō Gongen|山王権現}} or {{nihongo|Hie (alternatively Hiyoshi) Sannō Daigongen|日吉山王大権現}} is a guardian deity worshiped in Tendai spread from Mount Hiei. It is treated as a Buddhist title of Shinto Oyamakui no Kami.
• {{nihongo|Seiryū Gongen|清滝権現}} was enshrined in Jingo-ji in Takao as the tutelary kami of Shingon Buddhism by Kūkai.Jaanus, Seiryū Gongen, accessed on October 6, 2008
• {{nihongo|Tōshō Daigongen|東照大権現}} 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.
• Ishizuchi Kongo Zaō Dai Gongen (石鎚金剛蔵王大権現) one of two Zaō Gongen manifestations in Japan. The trio of Mount Ishizuchi is a manifestaion of Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahasthamaprapta.
• {{nihongo|Zaō Gongen|蔵王権現}} or {{nihongo|Kongō Zaō Bosatsu|金剛蔵王菩薩}} 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.Encyclopedia of Shinto, [http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=201 Zaō Gongen], accessed on October 6, 2008

File:Gongen Zukuri.png

{{main|Ishi-no-ma-zukuri}}

{{nihongo|Gongen-zukuri|権現造}} 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.Encyclopedia of Shinto, [http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/bts/bts_g.html#gongen-zukuri Gongen-zukuri] accessed on October 5, 2008For details about these terms, see the article Shinto shrine. 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.Jaanus, [http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/g/gongenzukuri.htm Gongen-zukuri], accessed on October 5, 2008

• The Glossary of Shinto for an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Shinto, Shinto art, and Shinto shrine architecture

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book

|last=Tamura

|first=Yoshiro

|title=Japanese Buddhism — A Cultural History

|publisher=Kosei Publishing Company

|location=Tokyo|year=2000

|edition=First

|pages=232 pages

|isbn=4-333-01684-3

|language=

}}

• {{cite book

| editor-last = Breen | editor-first = John | editor-link = John Breen (scholar)

| editor2-last = Mark | editor2-first = Teeuwen | editor2-link = Mark Teeuwen

| title = Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami

| publisher = University of Hawaii Press

| date = July 2000

| location = Honolulu

| language =

| isbn = 978-0-8248-2363-4

| oclc = 43487317

}}

{{Commons category|Gongen}}

Category:Buddhism in Japan

Category:Shinto terminology

Category:Shinbutsu shūgō

Category:Shugendō