were
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
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s from
Mount Kōya
is a large temple settlement in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan to the south of Osaka. In the strictest sense, ''Mount Kōya'' is the mountain name ( sangō) of Kongōbu-ji Temple, the ecclesiastical headquarters of the Kōyasan sect of Shingon Budd ...
who were sent to preach
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 ...
around the country. They were the lowest caste inside the priests' hierarchy of the Mount Kōya temples, and traveled while
peddling
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a chapman, packman, cheapjack, hawker, higler, huckster, (coster)monger, colporteur or solicitor, is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of goods.
In England, the term was mostly used fo ...
for a living. They give title to famed writer
Izumi Kyōka
, meaning " spring" or "fountain", is a Japanese given name and surname. While a unisex name, it is more commonly used by women. It can alternately be written as , , , or . People with the name include:
As given name
* , actress
* , stage name M ...
's most representative short-story.
Former monks who turned to mischief were called '. Moreover, ' also eventually became a
seasonal word (in the context of poetry) for turtles.
See also
*
Hijiri zaka
, meaning "Headland of the Moon", was a name formerly in use for part of a plateau in Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo in Japan. One explanation of the name is that it was considered a particularly good place to view the moon over what is now Tokyo Bay.
...
References
Shingon Buddhism
Japanese Vajrayana Buddhism
Japanese Buddhist clergy
History of Buddhism in Japan
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