En No Gyōja

( b. 634, in Katsuragi (modern Nara Prefecture); d. c. 700–707) was a Japanese ascetic and mystic, traditionally held to be the founder of Shugendō, the path of ascetic training practiced by the ''gyōja'' or ''yamabushi''.

He was banished by the Imperial Court to Izu Ōshima on June 26, 699, but folk tales at least as old as the ''Nihon Ryōiki'' (c. 800) recount his supernatural powers and exploits.

He is also referred to by the name , , or also under the full name En no Kimi Ozunu, where is his kabane or titular name.

Historical references

Even historical accounts of his life are intermixed with legends and folklore. According to the chronicle ''Shoku Nihongi'' ( 797 AD), En no Ozunu was banished to the island of Izu Ōshima on June 26, 699:

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In spite of this incident, it seems that the Court continued to highly evaluate the herbal knowledge of Ozunu's school, since Vol. 11 of the book also tells that on October 5, Tenpyō 4 (October 28, 732 AD), his student Karakuni no Hirotari was elected as the , the highest position in .

In the religion Shugendō

In folk religion, En no Ozunu is traditionally held to be the founder of Shugendō, a syncretic religion incorporating aspects of Taoism, Shinto, esoteric Buddhism (especially '' Shingon Mikkyō'' and the Tendai sect) and traditional Japanese shamanism.

En no Gyōja was conferred the posthumous title Jinben Daibosatsu (Great Bodhisattva Jinben, 神変大菩薩) at a ceremony held in 1799 to commemorate the one-thousandth year of his passing. Authorship of the non-canonical Sutra on the Unlimited Life of the Threefold Body is attributed to En no Gyōja. Due to his mythical status as a mountain saint, he was believed to possess many supernatural powers.

In popular culture

* In Kyoto's Gion Festival, one of the yamaboko floats
En no Gyoja Yama
is dedicated to En no Gyoja. It is an annual pilgrimage destination for yamabushi (practitioners of Shugendo), who perform various rituals on site.
* In the historical fantasy novel ''Teito Monogatari'' by Hiroshi Aramata the protagonist Yasunori Kato claims to be a descendant of En no Gyōja.
*In the manga ''OZN'' by Shiro Ohno the protagonist is a superheroic version of En no Ozunu.
*In the SNES game Shin Megami Tensei, an NPC named En-no-ozuno resides in Kongokai.
*In the PS1 game Oni Zero: Fukkatsu, the main antagonist is En no Gyōja.
*In Koji Suzuki's novel ''Ring,'' Sadako's mother drags a statuette of En no Ozunu from the sea.
*In the movie "Ninja Assassin," the antagonist is 'Master Ozunu;' who heads the, "9 Clan".
*In the anime Zenki, a posthumous character named Enno Ozunu was the master of Zenki, who would centuries later be summoned again by his descendant, Chiaki Enno.
*The manga Touge Oni tells the tale of En no Ozuno and his two disciples, Zenki and Miyo (later Goki), traveling the land of Wa meeting various Kami.

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations

;Bibliography

*
v.1v. 2

External links

En no Ozunu
- History of Japan Database

{{DEFAULTSORT:En No Gyoja

Founders of religions
Japanese religious leaders
Japanese writers
Apothecaries
Shugendō practitioners
Japanese exorcists