I recently stumbled upon "A Religious Study of the Mount Haguro Sect of Shugendo" by H. Byron Earhart. I didn't know too much about Shugendo, but I had met a Shingon-sect Shugendo practitioner (shugenja) before, and was vaguely familiar with them. Anyhow, it was enough for me to go read it.

To very briefly summarise, Shugendo is a syncretic, mountain-worshipping Japanese folk religion. It was founded by the famous ascetic En no Gyoja (aka En no Ozunu or En no Ubasoku), and has been associated with wandering shugenja who endure harsh ascetic practices and wear somewhat distinctive clothing. It was banned in the 1870s (Meiji era), but has been somewhat revived post-war. The Mount Haguro sect holds Mount Haguro in particularly high esteem. Mount Haguro is one the Dewa Sanzan, three famous sacred mountains in northern Japan. 

Wait, that isn't entirely accurate! One of the first misunderstandings that the author clears up is the notion of mountain worship. Shugendo (and more broadly, the religious practice of "sangaku shinko") considers (certain) mountains to be sacred places, where gods, Buddhas/Bodhisattvas, and/or spirits dwell. So, it may be more accurate to describe mountain worship as worshipping *in* the mountains, because they are sacred, rather than the worshipping *of* mountains, simply because they are mountains.^\[0\]^ Secondly, the Haguro sect claims not be founded by En no Ozunu, but Prince Hachiko (aka Shoken-dai-bosatsu). The Haguro sect claims that En no Ozuno merely founded the sect of Oomine (a different mountain in Nara), and that their sect was older. More on this in a bit.

## What was good

The book does a great job at explaining what Shugendo is exactly. I think anyone with a little bit of knowledge about Buddhism and Japanese history should have no problem understanding the writing. As previously shown, the author also excellently cleared up misconceptions and prevented misunderstandings.

Another thing the book did well was describing both what the many rituals were, and the meaning behind them. Or rather, the meanings. The author uses two main sources, which ascribe multiple different meanings to aspects of the rituals, and the author also adds in his own knowledge, from his participation in the Aki no Mine (Fall Peak) ritual period, and his conversations with practitioners. Combined with the well-written glossary, this book seems like an incredibly useful guide to understanding the ceremonial parts of Shugendo.^\[1\]^ The rituals themselves were, of course, very interesting and certainly worth writing about. Though the Fall Peak was given the most in-depth explanation, I found the Winter Peak to be the most curious, with its initial long period of confinement for two senior ascetics, and ending with a fun festival full of competitions and celebrations. I understand why the Fall Peak was given much more coverage, given that it is slightly less public, and since the Winter Peak is more under the jurisdiction of the Shinto Dewa Shrine in modern times. The Summer Peak is the season where pilgrims come. The Spring Peak is no longer done, and is essentially a bunch of rituals perfomed privately by the highest-ranking members. I had no problem with how much each peak was covered, and thought it made sense. It was decently fascinating, and I was not aware of the lay pilgrimages in Shugendo before; I had mostly only thought of Shugendo in terms of the ascetics/priests that practice it, and had not thought too much about what the lay followers did.

With his own experience of the rituals, the author is able to provide details on how modern practices differ from the pre-Meiji ones. Besides modern practices generally being more abbreviated, it seems some holy sites no longer exist, or in one case, are inaccessible due to hydroelectric dam.

What I liked most is the explanation of the history of (Haguro) Shugendo, and how it changed through the ages. It seems it arose from the interaction of already ancient indigenous^\[2\]^ beliefs about the sacred role of mountains, and the imported Buddhist, and later Taoist, beliefs. As it became more organised, a formal hierarchy arose, divided between ascetics practicing on or near the mountain year round, and wandering folk priests serving various communities. Lay adherents received charms and various ceremonies (eg, to protect crops), and undertook long pilgrimages from across the country to the mountain. By the Edo/Tokugawa period, these wandering priests started growing more and more settled, and eventually stopped wandering entirely. After Shugendo was banned by the Meiji government, Shugendo priests and ascetics were either forced to give up their practices or become Shinto priests or Buddhist monks. A great deal of sites associated with Haguro Shugendo disappeared. But, enough was preserved and survived that it was revived post-war, even if in an abbreviated form.

Overall, the book touched on many interesting topics and tidbits, far too many to list. I learned about the involvement of the lay followers, and was surprised by the great (historical) reach and power of Haguro Shugendo. At its height, it had great financial and even military power. It quibbled with other Shugendo sects (such as the Hozan-ha, associated with the Tendai Buddhist sect^\[3\]^).

The book presents convincing evidence of pre-Shugendo beliefs around mountains, which besides being fascinating, gave a good idea of how Shugendo arose. I find it plausible that Shugendo independently arose in many areas of the country, and based on inter-group influences came to have some common characteristics. I don't really know whether Haguro Shugendo really predates En no Gyoja (or even if En no Gyoja was real [probably?]), but I don't see why not.

## What I wish was different

While the pre-Meiji history and doctrine of Shugendo is described in good detail, the post-Meiji history and doctrine of Shugendo is confusingly, barely covered. I was left with many burning questions. How exactly did Shugendo survive and revive? How did they decide which rituals to continue, and which to discontinue? When the resurrected Haguro Shugendo matures, will more rituals and practices be revived? What is the relationship exactly with Dewa shrine? What do the modern lay practitioners believe? Where did the shugenja of revived Shugendo come from, exactly? And what are their motivations?

When reading, small bits of answers are teased, but never fully fleshed out. For example, some of the modern Haguro Shugendo believers don't seem to like Dewa shrine, and how they carry out the rituals, but the other hand, (presumably Haguro) shungeja participate in some of the shrine's rituals. What's up with that? Who knows, no elaboration is made. Another example, the author at one point "accidentally observed an unofficial but interesting religious activity", where an older woman, who seemed to be in a "mild form of possession", and a young man were praying together. Afterwards, he talked to the woman (who he had, apparently, previously interviewed, though this is news to us) who explained that they were praying for the young man's dead father. She also said she had seen images of the founder (Prince Hachiko) while praying before. This short, off-hand passage is unfortunately the closest readers get to understanding the modern followers of Haguro Shungendo.

I don't understand why the author neglects the modern history. They obviously have plenty of sources to draw on, including his own experience and his conversations with modern practitioners, who surely remember the recent revival, and likely the pre-war underground state of Shugendo, so that isn't the issue. The modern history and motivations should be the easiest part to research! I also don't see why this would be out of scope of the work^\[4\]^, since revived Haguro Shugendo is still Shugendo. In my opinion, if the author would've included some of his takeaways from the interviews he clearly conducted with many followers and senior priests, the work would be greatly enhanced.

A major theme in the work is how Shugendo has changed over the years. As previously mentioned, the itineracy of the shugenja had declined by the Edo era, and strict asceticism had begun to fade too. And after the banning and revival, many rituals ceased or were abbreviated, certain positions/ranks were un-filled, and some holy sites or buildings no longer even exist. Meanings and interpretation seem to slightly change with time, though as the author points out, these meanings can coexist without contradiction. The revived Haguro Shugendo has a small fraction of the power it once had, and objectively it has declined. Perhaps the author considered the modern history and doctrine less important due to this decline? The author does associate the revived Haguro with other Japanese "new religions" in the conclusion (possibly implying that the revived version does not deserve quite the same comprehensive treatment as its pre-banned version), and separates it firmly from Buddhism (though obviously it acknowledges the great influence from Buddhism). These are both conclusions I disagree with, based on the practices and beliefs of Haguro Shugendo (both modern and pre-banning), as described in the book itself. Or perhaps the author just had a page limit and had to prioritise^\[5\]^. Either way, I was left wanting for more.

## Conclusion

For someone with just a passing minor interest in Shugendo, or Japanese religions in general, I do think chapters 1 (religious background and historical development), 2 (background and religious history of the Haguro sect), 4 (religious doctrine), 5 (religious life and ritual activity), and the illustration section are worth reading, or at least skimming. I do realise that is a decent chunk of the book. The other sections are probably too dry for this type of reader.

For someone who has a more major interest in Shugendo, and especially the meaning and minutae of the rituals, this book is an excellent resource.

However, as mentioned in the previous section, don't expect to learn too much about the modern history or the modern practitioners.

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[0]: Though, my impression was the mountains themselves were actually venerated... though only because of their association with various deities, so it's a little more complicated than that, I suppose
[1]: The bibliography/citations and the index were also great, but those are table stakes for academic works
\[2\]: Given that "Shinto" was inextricably intertwined with Buddhism until the Meiji government forced them to separate ([shinbutsu bunri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinbutsu_bunri) in the 1860s, and given that the unification of the many indigenous beliefs of Japan into "Shinto" wasn't really attempted until hundreds of years after the introduction of Buddhism, I did not use that term. Of course, it's not accurate at all to call Shinto entirely an artificial creation of the Meiji government, given that the oldest surviving work of literature in Japan, the [Kojiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki) include national founding myths, and clearly in the early years of Buddhism in Japan, there was a contrast (and conflict) between it and the native practices. However, in the 1000+ years since, Japanese Buddhism and these native beliefs have merged together and influenced each other quite thoroughly, each changing from their "original" forms. So clearly, Shinto as we know it today is not an accurate term for the native religious practices pre-Buddhism, but it's complicated! I recommend reading "The Religious Traditions of Japan - 500-1600" by Andrew Edmund Goble for a really good analysis of the relationship between these native beliefs and Buddhism, and how Shinto started forming
[3]: Tozan-ha, on the other hand, is associated with the Shingon Buddhist sect. I would guess this might be the Shingon gyoja I met was associated with, but I could be totally wrong. He said he was on the path to ordain officially as a monk of the Koyasan subsect of Shingon. I'm not really sure of the relationship between Tozan-ha and the other Shingon denominations
[4]: There were a few things that I wanted to learn more about, like the military power of Haguro Shugendo, or how other sects viewed them, but that is more understandably out of scope. Perhaps I'll look through the bibliography and see if there's anything that seems to mention it, though more sources than you would expect seem to be in French or German
[5]: By the way, the whole thing with "-ise" being for nouns and "-ize" for verbs (or is the other way around?) is so confusing and weird. I don't want to just use "-ize" though, z just looks... weird
