Shinbutsu Shūgō: Gods and Buddhas as One
Japonista Dictionary › Kami and buddhas
Shinbutsu shūgō (神仏習合), the combination of gods and buddhas, describes how the native kami of Japan and the buddhas of the imported faith were worshipped together for more than a thousand years. Shrines had temples within their grounds, monks performed rites before kami, and kami were understood as local manifestations of buddhas. Much of the sacred art collectors meet today was made within this shared world.
Original ground and trace
From the Heian period, the theory of honji suijaku, original ground and manifested trace, held that each kami was the local appearance of a buddha or bodhisattva, who had taken a Japanese form to reach the people. Amaterasu, the sun goddess, was identified with Dainichi, the cosmic sun Buddha; Hachiman with Amida. Such deities were called gongen, avatars.
Shrine-temples and their art
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Jingūji. Temples attached to shrines, where monks served the kami.
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Shrine mandalas. Paintings such as the Kasuga and Kumano mandalas show a shrine's landscape with the buddhas who were the kami's original forms floating above.
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Kami sculpture. Seated figures of kami as courtiers and court ladies, shinzō, were carved under Buddhist influence from the ninth century.
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Mountain asceticism. Shugendō fused mountain kami, esoteric Buddhism and Daoist practice.
The separation of 1868
The new Meiji government ordered the separation of kami and buddhas, shinbutsu bunri, to establish Shinto as a state cult. Buddhist images were removed from shrines, shrine-temples were dissolved and, in a wave of anti-Buddhist violence, many temples were damaged or closed. Vast numbers of statues, paintings and ritual objects left their original homes, and some entered collections in Japan and abroad. Understanding this history helps a collector read the provenance of Meiji-era material honestly.
The legacy today
Many Japanese households still keep both a Buddhist altar, butsudan, and a Shinto shelf, kamidana. The Seven Lucky Gods, mixing Japanese, Indian and Chinese deities, are a living example of the old fusion.
Collecting notes
- Shrine mandalas and kami figures are a distinguished, specialist field. Provenance from shrine-temples dissolved in the Meiji period should be documented where possible.
- See The Ethics of Collecting Sacred Art.
In the collection
Browse altars and religious objects and Shugendō pieces. Our collector concierge can search Japan for shrine and syncretic art.
See also
