In
Japanese Buddhism
Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...
, ''mikkyō'' (密教, from ''himitsu bukkyō'', literally "secret Buddhism") or Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, is the lineage of
Vajrayana
''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhis ...
transmitted to
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, primarily in the early
Heian
The Japanese word Heian (平安, lit. "peace") may refer to:
* Heian period, an era of Japanese history
* Heian-kyō, the Heian-period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto
* Heian series, a group of karate kata (forms)
* ...
by
Kūkai
, born posthumously called , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the Vajrayana, esoteric Shingon Buddhism, Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) und ...
, and to a later extent by
Saichō and his successors such as
Ennin. It consists of complex systems of icons, meditative rituals, and ritual languages; distinct from the