is a Japanese ''
kami
are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...
'' believed to be the local avatar (''
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.Encyclopedia of Shint ...
'') of Buddhist
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
Jizō. The cult originated in
Shugendō
is a highly syncretic religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local fol ...
practices on
Mount Atago
''Mount Atago is a very common name for peaks all over Japan.''
is a 924m mountain in the northwestern part of Ukyo-ku, in the city of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an islan ...
in
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
, and Atago Gongen is worshiped as a protector against fire. There are some nine hundred Atago Shrines around Japan.
See also
*
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.Encyclopedia of Shint ...
*
Shinbutsu shūgō
*
Honji suijaku
The term in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native ''kami'' to more easily convert and save the Japanese.Breen and Te ...
*
Atago Shrine (Kyoto)
is a Shinto shrine on Mount Atago, the northwest of Kyoto, Japan. Enshrined is Atago Gongen who protects Kyoto from fire. Shugendō practices and a place for worship are known from the eighth century. The late-Kamakura period Honden has been des ...
*
Atago Shrine (Tokyo)
The in Minato, Tokyo, Japan is a Shinto shrine established in 1603 (the eighth year of the Keichō era) on the order of ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ieyasu. The current shrine buildings on the site date from 1958.
The shrine is located on Atagoyama, ...
References
Shugendō deities
Shinbutsu shūgō
Gongen
Kṣitigarbha
Tengu
{{Japan-reli-stub