''Kakure nenbutsu'' (隠れ念仏), or "hidden Amida Buddhism", was a form of

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran ( ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

secretly practiced on the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, in the Hitoyoshi Domain and

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

, during a period of religious persecution from 1555 to the declaration of freedom of religion during the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. Because it became a secret lineage, some ''kakure nenbutsu'' lineages continued into the mid-20th century.

Origins

The ''kakure nenbutsu'' era began with the ''

ikkō-ikki were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly con ...

'', violent uprisings of peasants encouraged and organized by the leadership of

Shinshū or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, w ...

splinter group

Ikkō-shū or "single-minded school" is usually viewed as a small, militant offshoot from Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism though the name has a complex history. Originally Ikkō-shū was an "obscure band of Pure Land proponents" founded by Ikkō Shunjō in the fif ...

. The ''ikkō-ikki'' were part of a period of political instability in Japan and the threat they posed to leadership was very real. In response to the uprisings, in Kyushu all forms of Shinshū were banned.

Secrecy

Some peasants who believed in

began meeting in secret, usually in mountain caves some distance from any inhabited area. Others would make secret pilgrimages to temples in neighboring domains.

Persecution

''Kakure nenbutsu'' continued into the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

and were persecuted as secret organizations. In one instance, 1,700 believers were arrested. However, believers remained quite faithful and would send donations in secret to the

Hongan-ji , also archaically romanized as Hongwanji, is the collective name of the largest school of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism (which further sub-divides into the Nishi and Higashi branches). 'Hongan-ji' may also refer to any one of several actual temple bui ...

temples 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 ...

. Some members would appeal to Hongan-ji to help them with preserving orthodoxy.

Survival

Some ''kakure nenbutsu'' lineages departed from orthodox Shinshū and merged with

yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or ho ...

and other secret, esoteric practices. These groups, called ''kayakabe'', continued to survive as of 1999, although there were virtually no young members. The term ''kakushi nenbutsu'' (隠し念仏) refers to a different type of "hidden Amida Buddhism" practiced in the Tohoku region. Unlike ''kakure nenbutsu'', ''kakushi nenbutsu'' still exist today as unregistered religious groups.Chilson, Clark (1999)
Buddhists under Cover: Why a Secretive Shinshu Society Remains Hidden Today
''Nanzan Bulletin'' 23, 18-28

References

{{Authority control Passing (sociology) Pure Land Buddhism History of Jōdo Shinshū Religious policy in Japan Buddhism in the Azuchi–Momoyama period Buddhism in the Edo period Persecution of Buddhists

Origins

Secrecy

Persecution

Survival

See also

References