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107-640: Because of his importance in Japanese Buddhism, Kūkai is associated with many stories and legends. One such legend attribute the invention of the kana syllabary to Kūkai, with which the Japanese language is written to this day (in combination with kanji ), as well as the Iroha poem, which helped to standardise and popularise kana . Shingon followers usually refer to Kūkai by the honorific title of Odaishi-sama ( お大師様 , "The Grand Master") , and

214-645: A glossing system to add readings or explanations to Buddhist sutras . Both of these systems were simplified to make writing easier. The shapes of many hiragana resembled the Chinese cursive script , as did those of many katakana the Korean gugyeol , suggesting that the Japanese followed the continental pattern of their neighbors. Kana is traditionally said to have been invented by the Buddhist priest Kūkai in

321-484: A "monopoly" to the offices of sesshō and kampaku , and served in turn. The political power had shifted away from the court nobility in Kyoto to the new warrior class in the countryside. However, Fujiwara remained close advisers, regents and ministers to the emperors for centuries; the family retained political reputation and influence even until the 20th century (such as Fumimaro Konoe and Morihiro Hosokawa , who became

428-504: A CVV syllable with complex nucleus (i.e. multiple or expressively long vowels), or a CCV syllable with complex onset (i.e. including a glide , C y V, C w V). The limited number of phonemes in Japanese, as well as the relatively rigid syllable structure, makes the kana system a very accurate representation of spoken Japanese . 'Kana' is a compound of kari ( 仮 , 'borrowed; assumed; false') and na ( 名 , 'name') , which eventually collapsed into kanna and ultimately 'kana'. Today it

535-848: A China-Japan co-production, was based on Kūkai's travels in China. The film stars Toshiyuki Nagashima as Kūkai, also co-starring Junko Sakurada and Zhang Fengyi as Huiguo. The 2017 fantasy film Legend of the Demon Cat stars Shōta Sometani as Kūkai. Kana Kana ( 仮名 , Japanese pronunciation: [kana] ) are syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae . In current usage, kana most commonly refers to hiragana and katakana . It can also refer to their ancestor magana ( 真仮名 , lit. 'true kana') , which were Chinese characters used phonetically to transcribe Japanese (e.g. man'yōgana ); and hentaigana , which are historical variants of

642-456: A Fujiwara). Indigenous art also flourished under the Fujiwara after centuries of imitating Chinese forms. Vividly colored yamato-e (Japanese style) paintings of court life and stories about temples and shrines became common in the mid and late Heian periods, setting patterns for Japanese art to this day. Decline in food production, growth of the population, and competition for resources among

749-423: A base much closer to the court, and its power. The new emperor, Emperor Junna (r. 823–833) was also well disposed towards Kūkai. In response to a request from the emperor, Kūkai, along with other Japanese Buddhist leaders, submitted a document which set out the beliefs, practices and important texts of his form of Buddhism. In his imperial decree granting approval of Kūkai's outline of esoteric Buddhism, Junna uses

856-821: A cursive form of kanji writing and an art form in itself. Hiragana gave written expression to the spoken word and, with it, to the rise in Japan's famous vernacular literature, much of it written by court women who had not been trained in Chinese as had their male counterparts. Three late tenth century and early eleventh century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in Kagerō Nikki ("The Gossamer Years") by "the mother of Michitsuna", Makura no Sōshi ( The Pillow Book ) by Sei Shōnagon , and Genji Monogatari ( Tale of Genji ) by Murasaki Shikibu (herself

963-569: A de facto return to conditions before the Taika Reform. Within decades of Emperor Daigo's death, the Fujiwara had absolute control over the court. By the year 1000, Fujiwara no Michinaga was able to enthrone and dethrone emperors at will. Little authority was left for traditional officialdom, and government affairs were handled through the Fujiwara family's private administration. The Fujiwara had become what historian George B. Sansom has called "hereditary dictators". The Fujiwara presided over

1070-529: A government-sponsored expedition to China, led by Fujiwara no Kadanomaro , in order to learn more about the Mahavairocana Tantra . Scholars are unsure why Kūkai was selected to take part in an official mission to China, given his background as a private monk who was not sponsored by the state. Theories include family connections within the Saeki-Ōtomo clan, or connections through fellow clergy or

1177-685: A letter to the governor of the province explaining their situation. The governor allowed the ship to dock, and the party was asked to proceed to the capital of Chang'an (present day Xi'an ), the capital of the Tang dynasty . After further delays, the Tang court granted Kūkai a place in Ximing Temple , where his study of Chinese Buddhism began in earnest. He also studied Sanskrit with the Gandharan pandit Prajñā (734–810?), who had been educated at

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1284-407: A limited set of characters, such as Wabun code for Morse code telegrams and single-byte digital character encodings such as JIS X 0201 or EBCDIK , likewise dispense with kanji, instead using only katakana. This is not necessary in systems supporting double-byte or variable-width encodings such as Shift JIS , EUC-JP , UTF-8 or UTF-16 . Old Japanese was written entirely in kanji, and

1391-438: A meaning . Apart from the five vowels, it is always CV (consonant onset with vowel nucleus ), such as ka , ki , sa , shi , etc., with the sole exception of the C grapheme for nasal codas usually romanised as n . The structure has led some scholars to label the system moraic , instead of syllabic , because it requires the combination of two syllabograms to represent a CVC syllable with coda (e.g. CV n , CV m , CV ng ),

1498-491: A member of the Fujiwara clan . The expedition included four ships, with Kūkai on the first ship, while another famous monk, Saichō was on the second ship. During a storm, the third ship turned back, while the fourth ship was lost at sea. Kūkai's ship arrived weeks later in the province of Fujian and its passengers were initially denied entry to the port while the ship was impounded. Kūkai, being literate in Chinese, wrote

1605-481: A mountain retreat at Mount Kōya as a retreat from worldly affairs. The ground was officially consecrated in the middle of 819 with rituals lasting seven days. He could not stay, however, as he had received an imperial order to act as advisor to the secretary of state, and he therefore entrusted the project to a senior disciple. As many surviving letters to patrons attest, fund-raising for the project now began to take up much of Kūkai's time, and financial difficulties were

1712-467: A newly invented position). After Mototsune's death Emperor Uda (who was not the son of a Fujiwara daughter) managed to regain control of much of government. However, after abdicating in favour of his son, Emperor Daigo (897–930), while apparently intending to control government from retirement, Mototsune's son Fujiwara no Tokihira managed to maneuver himself back to very prominent position until his early death in 909. The remaining period of Daigo's reign

1819-400: A period of cultural and artistic flowering at the imperial court and among the aristocracy. There was great interest in graceful poetry and vernacular literature. Japanese writing had long depended on Chinese ideograms ( kanji ), but these were now supplemented by kana , two types of phonetic Japanese script: katakana , a mnemonic device using parts of Chinese ideograms; and hiragana ,

1926-654: A persistent concern; indeed, the project was not fully realised until after Kūkai's death in 835. Kūkai's vision was that Mt. Kōya was to become a representation of the Mandala of the Two Realms that form the basis of Shingon Buddhism: the central plateau as the Womb Realm mandala, with the peaks surrounding the area as petals of a lotus; and located in the centre of this would be the Diamond Realm mandala in

2033-455: A poem which uses each kana once. However, hiragana and katakana did not quickly supplant man'yōgana . It was only in 1900 that the present set of kana was codified. All the other forms of hiragana and katakana developed before the 1900 codification are known as hentaigana ( 変体仮名 , "variant kana") . Rules for their usage as per the spelling reforms of 1946, the gendai kana-zukai ( 現代仮名遣い , "present-day kana usage") , which abolished

2140-413: A poetry anthology assembled sometime after 759 and the eponym of man'yōgana , exemplifies this phenomenon, where as many as almost twenty kanji were used for the mora ka . The consistency of the kana used was thus dependent on the style of the writer. Hiragana developed as a distinct script from cursive man'yōgana , whereas katakana developed from abbreviated parts of regular script man'yōgana as

2247-453: A set of kanji called man'yōgana were first used to represent the phonetic values of grammatical particles and morphemes. As there was no consistent method of sound representation, a phoneme could be represented by multiple kanji, and even those kana's pronunciations differed in whether they were to be read as kungana ( 訓仮名 , "meaning kana") or ongana ( 音仮名 , "sound kana") , making decipherment problematic. The man'yōshū ,

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2354-580: A solid institutional basis with state authorization. Shingon had become legitimate. In 824, Kūkai was officially appointed to the temple construction project. In that year he founded Zenpuku-ji , the second oldest temple of the Edo (Tokyo) region. In 824 he was also appointed to the Office of Priestly Affairs. The Office consisted of four positions, with the Supreme Priest being an honorary position which

2461-533: A strong interest in Buddhist studies instead. Around the age of 22, Kūkai was introduced to Buddhist practice involving chanting the mantra of Kokūzō (Sanskrit: Ākāśagarbha ), the bodhisattva of the void. During this period, Kūkai frequently sought out isolated mountain regions where he chanted the Ākāśagarbha mantra relentlessly. At age 24 he published his first major literary work, Sangō Shiiki , in which he quotes from an extensive list of sources, including

2568-560: A tool for children), there can be no word-by-word collation; all collation is kana-by-kana. The hiragana range in Unicode is U+3040 ... U+309F, and the katakana range is U+30A0 ... U+30FF. The obsolete and rare characters ( wi and we ) also have their proper code points. Characters U+3095 and U+3096 are hiragana small ka and small ke , respectively. U+30F5 and U+30F6 are their katakana equivalents. Characters U+3099 and U+309A are combining dakuten and handakuten , which correspond to

2675-543: A wealthy family in Matsuyama so that he might restore a neglected temple. Dying, he clasped a stone. Shortly afterwards a baby was born with his hand grasped tightly around a stone inscribed "Emon Saburō is reborn." When the baby grew up, he used his wealth to restore the Ishite-ji ( 石手寺 , "Stone-hand Temple") , in which there is an inscription from 1567 recounting the tale. According to one legend, male same-sex love

2782-533: Is a ligature of koto ( コト ), also found in vertical writing. Additionally, there are halfwidth equivalents to the standard fullwidth katakana. These are encoded within the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block (U+FF00–U+FFEF), starting at U+FF65 and ending at U+FF9F (characters U+FF61–U+FF64 are halfwidth punctuation marks): There is also a small "Katakana Phonetic Extensions" range (U+31F0 ... U+31FF), which includes some additional small kana characters for writing

2889-663: Is also a large graveyard at this site, as many individuals throughout Japanese Buddhist history have wished to be buried near Kūkai. Kūkai also has a popular mantra which is recited in Shingon religious services. It is called the Hōgō (treasure name) and is: namu daishi henjō kongō 南 無 大 師 遍 照 金 剛 The mantra means "homage (namu) great teacher (daishi) henjō kongō (Vairocana vajra, Kūkai's secret tantric name). It could be rendered in Sanskrit as namo mahāguru vairocana vajra. The modern form of

2996-604: Is also used to represent onomatopoeia and interjections, emphasis, technical and scientific terms, transcriptions of the Sino-Japanese readings of kanji, and some corporate branding. Kana can be written in small form above or next to lesser-known kanji in order to show pronunciation; this is called furigana . Furigana is used most widely in children's or learners' books. Literature for young children who do not yet know kanji may dispense with it altogether and instead use hiragana combined with spaces. Systems supporting only

3103-426: Is generally assumed that 'kana' were considered "false" kanji due to their purely phonetic nature, as opposed to mana ( 真名 ) which were "true" kanji used for their meanings. Yet originally, mana and kana were purely calligraphic terms with mana referring to Chinese characters written in the regular script ( kaisho ) and kana referring to those written in the cursive ( sōsho ) style (see hiragana ). It

3210-424: Is now the source of some of the many legendary stories which surround his figure. In 822 Kūkai performed an initiation ceremony for the ex-emperor Heizei. In the same year Saichō died. When Emperor Kanmu had moved the capital in 784, he had not permitted the powerful Buddhists from the temples of Nara to follow him. He did commission two new temples: Tō-ji (Eastern Temple) and Sai-ji (Western Temple) which flanked

3317-526: Is still alive on Mount Kōya, awaiting the appearance of Maitreya , the Buddha of the future. In modern Shingon, Kūkai is seen as a bodhisattva that one can pray and have devotion towards, similar to how the historical figure Padmasambhava became a figure of devotion in Tibet. Pilgrimages and devotional events focused around Kūkai remain a key part of the Shingon faith. The most important Kūkai pilgrimage route

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3424-480: Is stylistic. Usually, hiragana is the default syllabary, and katakana is used in certain special cases. Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words with no kanji representation (or whose kanji is thought obscure or difficult), as well as grammatical elements such as particles and inflections ( okurigana ). Today katakana is most commonly used to write words of foreign origin that do not have kanji representations, as well as foreign personal and place names. Katakana

3531-479: Is the Shikoku Pilgrimage (四国遍路, Shikoku Henro ). Kūkai's mausoleum (the "Gobyo") at Mount Kōya is at Okunoin (奥の院) temple and it is the main site for devotion to Kūkai. Offerings and prayers to Kūkai are made around the year at this site. He is believed by the faithful to still be alive, having entered a deep samadhi (meditative absorption) until the arrival of the next Buddha Maitreya . There

3638-729: The Ainu language . Further small kana characters are present in the "Small Kana Extension" block. Unicode also includes "Katakana letter archaic E" (U+1B000), as well as 255 archaic Hiragana , in the Kana Supplement block. It also includes a further 31 archaic Hiragana in the Kana Extended-A block. The Kana Extended-B block was added in September, 2021 with the release of version 14.0: Fujiwara clan The Fujiwara clan ( 藤原氏 , Fujiwara-shi or Fujiwara- uji )

3745-569: The Asuka period . Nakatomi no Kamatari, a member of the lower-nobility Nakatomi family led a coup against the Soga in 645 and initiated a series of sweeping government reforms that would be known as the Taika Reform . In 668 Emperor Tenji (reigned 668–671), bestowed the kabane Fujiwara no Ason ( 藤原朝臣 ) on Kamatari. The surname passed to the descendants of Fujiwara no Fuhito (659–720),

3852-515: The Catalogue of Imported Items , is the first attempt by Kūkai to distinguish the new form of Buddhism from that already practiced in Japan. The court's response was an order to reside in Takao-san temple (modern Jingo-ji ) in the suburbs of Kyoto. This was to be Kūkai's headquarters for the next 14 years. The year 809 also saw the retirement of Emperor Heizei due to illness and the succession of

3959-611: The Emperor Saga , who supported Kūkai and exchanged poems and other gifts. In 810, Kūkai emerged as a public figure when he was appointed administrative head of Tōdai-ji , the central temple in Nara , and head of the Sōgō ( 僧綱 , Office of Priestly Affairs ) . Shortly after his enthronement, Emperor Saga became seriously ill, and while he was recovering, Emperor Heizei fomented a rebellion, which had to be put down by force. Kūkai petitioned

4066-497: The Golden Light Sutra to bolster the government, but this event marked a new reliance on the esoteric tradition to fulfill this role. With the public initiation ceremonies for Saichō and others at Takao-san temple in 812, Kūkai became the acknowledged master of esoteric Buddhism in Japan. He set about organizing his disciples into an order – making them responsible for administration, maintenance and construction at

4173-520: The In no chō and of the rise of the military class throughout the country. Military might rather than civil authority dominated the government. A struggle for succession in the mid-twelfth century gave the Fujiwara an opportunity to regain their former power. Fujiwara no Yorinaga sided with the retired emperor in a violent battle in 1158 against the heir apparent, who was supported by the Taira and Minamoto. In

4280-558: The Kantō region , southwest of modern Tokyo) to defeat the Taira, and with them the child emperor Emperor Antoku they controlled, in the Genpei War (1180–85). After this downfall, the younger branches of the Fujiwara clan turned their focus from politics to the arts, producing literary scholars including Fujiwara no Shunzei and Fujiwara no Teika . Only forty years after Michinaga 's death, his Fujiwara heirs were not able to prevent

4387-500: The Tōhoku region (northeast Honshū ) of Japan during the 12th century. Beyond the 12th century, they continued to monopolize the titles of Sesshō and Kampaku for much of the time until the system was abolished in the Meiji era . Though their influence declined, the clan remained close advisors to the succeeding Emperors. The Fujiwara clan's political influence was initiated during

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4494-460: The abhisheka , or initiatory ritual, for the court by the time Kūkai returned to Japan. Later, with Emperor Kanmu's death, Saichō's fortunes began to wane. Saichō requested, in 812, that Kūkai give him the introductory initiation, which Kūkai agreed to do. He also granted a second-level initiation upon Saichō, but refused to bestow the final initiation (which would have qualified Saichō as a master of esoteric Buddhism) because Saichō had not completed

4601-506: The Emperor to allow him to carry out certain esoteric rituals which were said to "enable a king to vanquish the seven calamities, to maintain the four seasons in harmony, to protect the nation and family, and to give comfort to himself and others". The petition was granted. Prior to this, the government relied on the monks from the traditional schools in Nara to perform rituals, such as chanting

4708-452: The Fujiwara started to rebuild their influence first under Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu in the first half of the ninth century. Fuyutsugu's son Fujiwara no Yoshifusa was the first person not from the imperial family to become regent for a minor emperor when he gained that position when his grandson was enthroned as Emperor Seiwa in 858. His adopted son, Fujiwara no Mototsune , had himself further appointed kampaku (regent for an adult emperor,

4815-602: The Fujiwara were court nobles , provincial governors and vice governors, members of the provincial aristocracy , and samurai . The Fujiwara was one of the four great families that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian Period (794 AC–1185 AC), and the most important of them at that time. The others were the Tachibana , the Taira and the Minamoto . The Fujiwara exercised tremendous power, especially during

4922-479: The Fujiwara would gain influence over the next emperor who would, according to family tradition of that time, be raised in the household of his mother's side and owe loyalty to his grandfather. As abdicated emperors took over power by exercising insei ( 院政 , cloistered rule) at the end of the 11th century, then followed by the rise of the warrior class , the Fujiwara gradually lost its control over mainstream politics. The Northern Fujiwara (Ōshū Fujiwara) ruled

5029-551: The Fujiwara, felt threatened with the loss of their lands. Emperor Go-Sanjō also established the In no chō , or Office of the Cloistered Emperor, which was held by a succession of emperors who abdicated to devote themselves to behind-the-scenes governance, or insei ( Cloistered rule ). The In no chō filled the void left by the decline of Fujiwara power. Rather than being banished, the Fujiwara were mostly retained in their old positions of civil dictator and minister of

5136-621: The Hōgen Disturbance ( Hōgen no Ran ) led to the Taira emerging as the most powerful clan in 1156. During the Heiji Disturbance ( Heiji no Ran ) in 1160 the Taira defeated the coalition of Fujiwara and Minamoto forces. This defeat marked the end of the Fujiwara's dominance. During the 13th century, the Fujiwara Hok-ke was split into five regent houses : Konoe , Takatsukasa , Kujō , Nijō and Ichijō . They had

5243-461: The Hōgō was widely used at least by the Muromachi period (1336 - 1573). It may have been created by the Shingon priest Dōhan (道範, 1178-1252) and is found in his Himitsu nenbutsu shō. Kūkai's prominence in Japanese Buddhism has spawned numerous stories and legends about him. When searching for a place on Mount Kōya to build a temple, Kūkai was said to have been welcomed by two Shinto deities of

5350-475: The Imperial family through heredity, power again concentrated in the hands of one noble family, the Fujiwara. Family administrations now became public institutions. As the most powerful family, the Fujiwara governed Japan and determined the general affairs of state, such as succession to the throne. Family and state affairs were thoroughly intermixed, a pattern followed among other families, monasteries, and even

5457-564: The Indian Buddhist university at Nalanda . It was in 805 that Kūkai finally met the monk Huiguo (746–805) the man who would initiate him into Chinese Esoteric Buddhism ( Tangmi ) at Chang'an 's Qinglong Monastery (青龍寺). Huiguo came from an illustrious lineage of Buddhist masters, famed especially for translating Sanskrit texts into Chinese, including the Mahavairocana Tantra . Kūkai describes their first meeting: Accompanied by Jiming, Tansheng, and several other Dharma masters from

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5564-533: The Prime Ministers). As such, they had a certain political power and much influence, as often the rival warriors and later bakufu sought their alliance. Oda Nobunaga and his sister Oichi claimed to have descent from the Taira and Fujiwara clans; regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi and shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu were related by marriage to various families from Fujiwara clan. Empress Shōken , wife of Emperor Meiji ,

5671-580: The Saeki-Ōtomo clan suffered government persecution due to allegations that the clan chief, Ōtomo Yakamochi, was responsible for the assassination of his rival Fujiwara no Tanetsugu . The family fortunes had fallen by 791 when Kūkai journeyed to Nara , the capital at the time, to study at the government university, the Daigakuryō ( 大学寮 ) . Graduates were typically chosen for prestigious positions as bureaucrats. Biographies of Kūkai suggest that he became disillusioned with his Confucian studies, but developed

5778-601: The Sanskrit language and the Siddhaṃ script. However, in Kūkai's absence Emperor Kanmu had died and was replaced by Emperor Heizei who exhibited no great enthusiasm for Buddhism. Kūkai's return from China was eclipsed by Saichō, the founder of the Tendai school , who found favor with the court during this time. Saichō had already had esoteric rites officially recognised by the court as an integral part of Tendai, and had already performed

5885-464: The Secret Treasury ) followed soon after. The first signs of the illness that would eventually lead to Kūkai's death appeared in 831. He sought to retire, but the emperor would not accept his resignation and instead gave him sick leave. Toward the end of 832, Kūkai went back to Mt. Kōya and spent most of his remaining life there. In 834, he petitioned the court to establish a Shingon chapel in

5992-581: The Soga clan  – which evolved as a surname for Kamatari and his descendants. In time, Fujiwara became known as a clan name. The Fujiwara dominated the Japanese politics of the Heian period (794–1185) through the monopoly of regent positions, Sesshō and Kampaku . The family's primary strategy for central influence was through the marrying of Fujiwara daughters to the Emperors . Through this,

6099-535: The Ximing monastery, I went to visit him [Huiguo] and was granted an audience. As soon as he saw me, the abbot smiled, and said with delight, "since learning of your arrival, I have waited anxiously. How excellent, how excellent that we have met today at last! My life is ending soon, and yet I have no more disciples to whom to transmit the Dharma. Prepare without delay the offerings of incense and flowers for your entry into

6206-483: The abhisheka mandala". Huiguo immediately bestowed upon Kūkai the first level abhisheka (esoteric initiation). Whereas Kūkai had expected to spend 20 years studying in China, in a few short months he was to receive the final initiation, and become a master of the esoteric lineage. Huiguo was said to have described teaching Kūkai as like "pouring water from one vase into another". Huiguo died shortly afterwards, but not before instructing Kūkai to return to Japan and spread

6313-478: The accession of Emperor Go-Sanjō (reigned 1068–73), the first emperor since Emperor Uda whose mother was not a Fujiwara. The system of government by retired emperor ( daijō tennō ) ( cloistered rule ) beginning from 1087 further weakened the Fujiwara's control over the Imperial Court. The Fujiwara-dominated Heian period approached its end along disturbances of 12th century. The dynastic struggle known as

6420-401: The center while being bypassed in decision making. In time, many of the Fujiwara were replaced, mostly by members of the rising Minamoto family. While the Fujiwara fell into disputes among themselves and formed northern and southern factions, the insei system allowed the paternal line of the imperial family to gain influence over the throne. The period from 1086 to 1156 was the age of supremacy of

6527-462: The clans of Taira and Minamoto created later during the ninth century were among the most prominent families supported by the new military class. In the ninth and tenth centuries, much authority was lost to the great families, who disregarded the Chinese-style land and tax systems imposed by the government in Kyoto. Stability came to Heian Japan, but, even though succession was ensured for

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6634-427: The classics of Confucianism, Daoism , and Buddhism . The Nara temples, with their extensive libraries, possessed these texts. During this period in Japanese history, the central government closely regulated Buddhism through the Sōgō ( 僧綱 , Office of Priestly Affairs ) and enforced its policies, based on the ritsuryō legal code. Ascetics and independent monks, like Kūkai, were frequently banned and lived outside

6741-459: The corresponding unvoiced columns ( k , s , t and h ) and the voicing mark, dakuten . Syllables beginning with [p] are spelled with kana from the h column and the half-voicing mark, handakuten . Syllables beginning with palatalized consonants are spelled with one of the seven consonantal kana from the i row followed by small ya , yu or yo . These digraphs are called yōon . The difference in usage between hiragana and katakana

6848-512: The court only increased, and spread. Meanwhile, Kukai's new esoteric teachings and literature drew scrutiny from a noted scholar-monk of the time named Tokuitsu , who traded letters back and forth in 815 asking for clarification. The dialogue between them proved constructive and helped to give Kūkai more credibility, while the Nara Schools took greater interest in esoteric practice. In 816, Emperor Saga accepted Kūkai's request to establish

6955-480: The cremation due to the time lag in communication caused by Mount Kōya's isolation. However, Kūkai was not given the traditional cremation, but instead, in accordance with his will, was entombed on the eastern peak of Mount Kōya. "When, some time after, the tomb was opened, Kōbō-Daishi was found as if still sleeping, with complexion unchanged and hair grown a bit longer." Legend has it that Kūkai has not died, but entered into an eternal samadhi (meditative trance) and

7062-447: The early tenth century. By the early Heian period, the shōen had obtained legal status, and the large religious establishments sought clear titles in perpetuity, waiver of taxes, and immunity from government inspection of the shōen they held. Those people who worked the land found it advantageous to transfer title to shōen holders in return for a share of the harvest. People and lands were increasingly beyond central control and taxation,

7169-463: The end, the Fujiwara were destroyed, the old system of government supplanted, and the insei system left powerless as bushi took control of court affairs, marking a turning point in Japanese history. Within a year, the Taira and Minamoto clashed, and a twenty-year period of Taira ascendancy began. The Taira were seduced by court life and ignored problems in the provinces. Finally, Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–99) rose from his headquarters at Kamakura (in

7276-525: The eponymous Tale of Genji . The Fujiwara Regency was the main feature of government during most of the Heian era. Kyoto ( Heian-kyō ) was geopolitically a better seat of government; with good river access to the sea, it could be reached by land routes from the eastern provinces. Just before the move to the Heian-kyō, the Emperor had abolished universal conscription in the eighth century and soon local, private militaries came into being. The Fujiwara and

7383-493: The esoteric teachings there, assuring him that other disciples would carry on his work in China. Kūkai arrived back in Japan in 806 as the eighth Patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism, having learnt Sanskrit and its Siddhaṃ script, studied Indian Buddhism, as well as having studied the arts of Chinese calligraphy and poetry , all with recognized masters. He also arrived with a large number of texts, many of which were new to Japan and were esoteric in character, as well as several texts on

7490-548: The following at the biography of the clan's patriarch, Fujiwara no Kamatari (614–669): "Kamatari, the Inner Palace Minister who was also called ‘Chūrō , ’ was a man of the Takechi district of Yamato Province. His forebears descended from Ame no Koyane no Mikoto; for generations they had administered the rites for Heaven and Earth, harmonizing the space between men and the gods. Therefore, it was ordered their clan

7597-432: The form of a temple which he named Kongōbu-ji ("Diamond Peak Temple"). At the center of the temple complex sits an enormous statue of Vairocana , who is the personification of Ultimate Reality. In 821, Kūkai took on a civil engineering task, that of restoring Manno Reservoir , which is still the largest irrigation reservoir in Japan. His leadership enabled the previously floundering project to be completed smoothly, and

7704-406: The great families all led to the gradual decline of Fujiwara power and gave rise to military disturbances in the mid-tenth and eleventh centuries. Members of the Fujiwara, Taira , and Minamoto families – all of whom had descended from the imperial family – attacked one another, claimed control over vast tracts of conquered land, set up rival regimes, and generally broke

7811-402: The imperial Court ( kampaku ) and regents ( sesshō ) for underage monarchs. The Fujiwara were the proverbial "power behind the throne" for centuries. Apparently they never aspired to supplant the imperial dynasty. Instead, the clan's influence stemmed from its matrimonial alliances with the imperial family. Because consorts of crown princes, younger sons, and emperors were generally Fujiwara women,

7918-705: The imperial family itself. Fuhito had four sons; and each of them became the progenitor of a cadet branch of the clan: Among them, the Hokke came to be considered as the leaders of the entire clan. All four brothers died in 737 during a major smallpox epidemic in Japan . During the Heian period of Japanese history, the Hokke managed to establish a hereditary claim to the position of regent , either for an underage emperor ( sesshō ) or for an adult one ( kampaku ). Some prominent Fujiwaras occupied these positions more than once, and for more than one emperor. Lesser members of

8025-416: The imperial family. As the Soga had taken control of the throne in the sixth century, the Fujiwara by the ninth century had intermarried with the imperial family, and one of their members was the first head of the Emperor's Private Office. While the earliest parts of the Heian period was marked by unusually strong emperors governing themselves (in particular from Emperor Kanmu to Emperor Saga (781–823)),

8132-492: The kana for wi (ゐ・ヰ), we (ゑ・ヱ), and wo (を・ヲ) (except that the last was reserved as the accusative particle). Kana are the basis for collation in Japanese. They are taken in the order given by the gojūon (あ い う え お ... わ を ん), though iroha (い ろ は に ほ へ と ... せ す (ん)) ordering is used for enumeration in some circumstances. Dictionaries differ in the sequence order for long/short vowel distinction, small tsu and diacritics. As Japanese does not use word spaces (except as

8239-503: The law, but still wandered the countryside or from temple to temple. During this period of private Buddhist practice, Kūkai had a dream, in which a man appeared and told Kūkai that the Mahavairocana Tantra is the scripture which contained the doctrine Kūkai was seeking. Though Kūkai soon managed to obtain a copy of this sutra which had only recently become available in Japan, he immediately encountered difficulty. Much of

8346-418: The lecture hall in 825 which was specifically designed along Shingon Buddhist principles, which included the making of 14 Buddha images. Also in 825, Kūkai was invited to become tutor to the crown prince. Then in 826 he initiated the construction of a large pagoda at Tō-ji which was not completed in his lifetime (the present pagoda was built in 1644 by the third Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu ). In 827 Kūkai

8453-400: The male heads of the Fujiwara house were often the father-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle, or maternal grandfather of the emperor. The family reached the peak of its power under Fujiwara no Michinaga (966–1027). He was the grandfather of three emperors, the father of six empresses or imperial consorts, and the grandfather of seven additional imperial consorts; it is no exaggeration to say that it

8560-535: The mountain—the male Kariba, and the female Niu. Kariba was said to have appeared as a hunter, and guided Kūkai through the mountains with the help of a white dog and a black dog. Later, both Kariba and Niu were interpreted as manifestations of the Buddha Vairocana , the central figure in Shingon Buddhism and subject of Kūkai's lifelong interest. Another legend tells the story of Emon Saburō ,

8667-480: The ninth century. Kūkai certainly brought the Siddhaṃ script of India home on his return from China in 806; his interest in the sacred aspects of speech and writing led him to the conclusion that Japanese would be better represented by a phonetic alphabet than by the kanji which had been used up to that point. The modern arrangement of kana reflects that of Siddhaṃ, but the traditional iroha arrangement follows

8774-643: The now-standard hiragana. Katakana, with a few additions, are also used to write Ainu . A number of systems exist to write the Ryūkyūan languages , in particular Okinawan , in hiragana. Taiwanese kana were used in Taiwanese Hokkien as ruby text for Chinese characters in Taiwan when it was under Japanese rule . Each kana character corresponds to one sound or whole syllable in the Japanese language, unlike kanji regular script , which corresponds to

8881-399: The palace for the purpose of conducting rituals that would ensure the health of the state. This request was granted and Shingon ritual became incorporated into the official court calendar of events. In 835, just two months before his death, Kūkai was finally granted permission to annually ordain three Shingon monks at Mt. Kōya – the number of new ordainees being still strictly controlled by

8988-501: The peace of Japan. The Fujiwara controlled the throne until the reign of Emperor Go-Sanjō (1068–73), the first emperor not born of a Fujiwara mother since the ninth century. Emperor Go-Sanjō, determined to restore imperial control through strong personal rule, implemented reforms to curb Fujiwara influence. He also established an office to compile and validate estate records with the aim of reasserting central control. Many shōen were not properly certified, and large landholders, like

9095-462: The period of regency governments in the 10th and 11th centuries, having many emperors as practically puppet monarchs . The Fujiwara dominated the government of Japan 794–1160. There is no clear starting point of their dominance. However, their domination of civil administration was lost by the establishment of the first shogunate (i.e., Kamakura shogunate ) under Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1192. Fujiwara princes initially served as highest ministers of

9202-603: The pupils. The latter was essential because the poor could not afford to live and attend the school without it. The school closed ten years after Kūkai's death, when it was sold in order to purchase some rice fields for supporting monastic affairs. Kūkai completed his magnum opus , The Jūjūshinron ( 十住心論 , Treatise on The Ten Stages of the Development of Mind ) in 830. Because of its great length, it has yet to have been fully translated into any language. A simplified summary, Hizō Hōyaku ( 秘蔵宝鑰 , The Precious Key to

9309-578: The religious name of Henjō Kongō ( 遍照金剛 , " Vajra Shining in All Directions") . Kūkai was born in 774 in the precinct of Zentsū-ji temple, in Sanuki province on the island of Shikoku . His family were members of the aristocratic Saeki family, a branch of the ancient Ōtomo clan . In modern scholarship, his first name is generally believed to be Mao ("True Fish"), although one source records his birth name as Tōtomono ("Precious One"). Kūkai

9416-449: The required studies, leading to a falling out between the two that was not resolved; this feud later extended to the Shingon and Tendai sects. Little is known about Kūkai's movements until 809 when the court finally responded to Kūkai's report on his studies, which also contained an inventory of the texts and other objects he had brought with him, and a petition for state support to establish the new esoteric Buddhism in Japan. That document,

9523-421: The road at southern entrance to the city, protecting the capital from evil influences. However, after nearly thirty years the temples were still not completed. In 823 the soon-to-retire Emperor Saga asked Kūkai, experienced in public works projects, to take over Tō-ji and finish the building project. Saga gave Kūkai free rein, enabling him to make Tō-ji the first Esoteric Buddhist centre in Kyoto, and also giving him

9630-411: The second son and heir of Kamatari, who was prominent at the court of several emperors and empresses during the early Nara period . He made his daughter Miyako a concubine of Emperor Monmu . Her son, Prince Obito became Emperor Shōmu . Fuhito succeeded in making another of his daughters, Kōmyōshi , the empress consort of Emperor Shōmu. She was the first empress consort of Japan who was not a daughter of

9737-411: The spacing characters U+309B and U+309C. U+309D is the hiragana iteration mark , used to repeat a previous hiragana. U+309E is the voiced hiragana iteration mark, which stands in for the previous hiragana but with the consonant voiced ( k becomes g , h becomes b , etc.). U+30FD and U+30FE are the katakana iteration marks. U+309F is a ligature of yori ( より ) sometimes used in vertical writing. U+30FF

9844-412: The state. This meant that Kōya had gone from being a private institution to a state-sponsored one. With the end approaching, he stopped taking food and water, and spent much of his time absorbed in meditation. At midnight on the 21st day of the third month (835), he died at the age of 62. Emperor Ninmyō (r. 833–50) sent a message of condolence to Mount Kōya, expressing his regret that he could not attend

9951-479: The sutra was in untranslated Sanskrit written in the Siddhaṃ script . Kūkai found the translated portion of the sutra was very cryptic. Because Kūkai could find no one who could elucidate the text for him, he resolved to go to China to study the text there. Ryuichi Abe suggests that the Mahavairocana Tantra bridged the gap between his interest in the practice of religious exercises and the doctrinal knowledge acquired through his studies. In 804, Kūkai took part in

10058-501: The temple, as well as for monastic discipline. In 813 Kūkai outlined his aims and practices in the document called The admonishments of Konin . It was also during this period at Takaosan that he completed many of the seminal works of the Shingon School: All of these were written in 817. Records show that Kūkai was also busy writing poetry, conducting rituals, and writing epitaphs and memorials on request. His popularity at

10165-492: The term Shingon-shū ( 真言宗 , Mantra Sect ) for the first time. An imperial decree gave Kūkai exclusive use of Tō-ji for the Shingon School, which set a new precedent in an environment where previously temples had been open to all forms of Buddhism. It also allowed him to retain 50 monks at the temple and train them in Shingon. This was the final step in establishing Shingon as an independent Buddhist movement, with

10272-454: The term 'kana' is now commonly understood as hiragana and katakana, it actually has broader application as listed below: The following table reads, in gojūon order, as a , i , u , e , o (down first column), then ka , ki , ku , ke , ko (down second column), and so on. n appears on its own at the end. Asterisks mark unused combinations. Syllables beginning with the voiced consonants [g], [z], [d] and [b] are spelled with kana from

10379-581: The wealthiest man in Shikoku . One day, a mendicant monk came to his house, seeking alms . Emon refused, broke the pilgrim's begging bowl, and chased him away. After this, his eight sons fell ill and died. Emon realized that Kūkai was the affronted pilgrim and set out to seek his forgiveness. Having traveled round the island twenty times clockwise in vain, he undertook the route in reverse. Finally, he collapsed exhausted and on his deathbed. Kūkai appeared to grant absolution. Emon requested that he be reborn into

10486-472: Was Michinaga who ruled Japan during this period, not the titular Emperors. As a result of these unusually strong familial links, Michinaga never took the title of Kampaku—he held more than the power that the position would bring, and had no need of the title. The Fujiwara clan is featured prominently in The Pillow Book , by Sei Shōnagon , and the character of Genji is partially based on Michinaga in

10593-639: Was a descendant of the Fujiwara clan. Until the marriage of the Crown Prince Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa) to Princess Nagako of Kuni (posthumously Empress Kōjun ) in January 1924, the principal consorts of emperors and crown princes had often been recruited from one of the Sekke Fujiwara. Imperial princesses were often married to Fujiwara lords – throughout a millennium at least. As recently as Emperor Shōwa's third daughter,

10700-541: Was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane . The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. They held the title of Ason . The abbreviated form is Tōshi ( 藤氏 ) . The 8th century clan history Tōshi Kaden ( 藤氏家伝 ) states

10807-524: Was again relatively free from Fujiwara dominance, but from the beginning of the reign of his son Emperor Suzaku , the Fujiwara again re-established their dominance of the court with the leadership of Fujiwara no Tadahira . Nevertheless, the Fujiwara were not demoted by Emperor Daigo but in many ways became stronger during his reign. Central control of Japan had continued to decline, and the Fujiwara, along with other great families and religious foundations, acquired ever larger shōen and greater wealth during

10914-447: Was born in a period of important political changes with Emperor Kanmu (r. 781–806) seeking to consolidate his power and to extend his realm, taking measures which included moving the capital of Japan from Nara ultimately to Heian (modern-day Kyoto ). Little more is known about Kūkai's childhood. At the age of fifteen, he began to receive instruction in the Chinese classics under the guidance of his maternal uncle. During this time,

11021-470: Was introduced into Japan by Kūkai. Historians however, point that this is probably not true, since Kūkai was an enthusiastic follower of monastic regulations. Nonetheless, the legend served to "affirm same-sex relation between men and boys in 17th century Japan." Kūkai ( 空海 ) a film from 1984 directed by Junya Sato . Kūkai is played by Kin'ya Kitaōji and Saichō is played by Gō Katō . The 1991 drama film Mandala (Chinese: 曼荼羅; Japanese: 若き日の弘法大師・空海),

11128-429: Was not until the 18th century that the early-nationalist kokugaku movement which wanted to move away from Sinocentric academia began to reanalyze the script from a phonological point of view. In the following centuries, contrary to the traditional Sinocentric view, kana began to be considered a national Japanese writing system that was distinct from Chinese characters, which is the dominant view today. Although

11235-452: Was often vacant. The effective head of the Sōgō was the Daisōzu ( 大僧都 , Senior Director ) . Kūkai's appointment was to the position of Shōsōzu ( 小僧都 , Junior Director ) . In addition there was a Risshi ( 律師 , Vinaya Master ) who was responsible for the monastic code of discipline. At Tō-ji, in addition to the main hall ( kondō ) and some minor buildings on the site, Kūkai added

11342-482: Was promoted to be Daisōzu in which capacity he presided over state rituals, the emperor and the imperial family. The year 828 saw Kūkai open his School of Arts and Sciences ( Shugei Shuchi-in ). The school was a private institution open to all regardless of social rank. This was in contrast to the only other school in the capital which was only open to members of the aristocracy. The school taught Taoism and Confucianism, in addition to Buddhism, and provided free meals to

11449-406: Was to be called Ōnakatomi" The clan originated when the founder, Nakatomi no Kamatari (614–669) of the Nakatomi clan , was rewarded by Emperor Tenji with the honorific "Fujiwara" – after the wisteria ( 藤 , fuji ) field on Mount Tōno (in present-day Sakurai City ) where Kamatari and the then-Prince Naka, who he befriended in a game of kemari , and conspired to eliminate

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