10/5/2019 En no Gyōja - Wikipedia

En no Gyōja
En no Ozunu, also En no Ozuno, Otsuno ( 役⼩⾓) (b. 634, in Katsuragi
(modern Nara Prefecture); d. c. 700–707) was a Japanese ascetic and
mystic, traditionally held to be the founder of Shugendō, the path of
ascetic training practiced by the gyōja or yamabushi.

He was banished by the Imperial Court to Izu Ōshima on June 26, 699,
but folk tales at least as old as the Nihon Ryōiki (c. 800) recount his
supernatural powers and exploits.

He also referred to by the name En no Gyōja ( 役⾏者 "En the ascetic"),

En no Ubasoku (役優婆塞 "En the Layman") , or under the full name En
no Kimi Ozunu, where Kimi (君) is his kabane or titular name.

Contents
Historical references
In the religion Shugendō
In popular culture
Statue of En no Gyōja in Goryūsonryū-
Explanatory notes in, Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture,
References Japan

Historical references
Even historical accounts of his life are intermixed with legends and folklore. According to the chronicle Shoku Nihongi
(797 AD), En no Ozunu was banished to the island of Izu Ōshima on June 26, 699:

On hinoto-ushi (sexagenary "fire ox") day[a] [24th day of the 5th month, Mommu 3 (June 26, 699 AD)],
En no Kimi Ozunu was banished to Izu no Shima. Ozunu had first lived in Mount Katsuragi and been
acclaimed for his sorcery and was the teacher of Outer Junior 5th Rank Lower Grade Karakuni no Muraji
Hirotari. Later, [a person (or Hirotari?)] envied his power and accused him of trickery with his weird
magic. [The Imperial Court] banished him far [from the Capital]. Rumor says, "Ozunu was able to
manipulate demonic spirits, making them draw water and gather firewood. When they disobeyed, he
bound them using sorcery."[1]

In spite of this incident, it seems that the Court continued to highly evaluate the herbal knowledge of Ozunu's school,
since Vol. 11 of the book also tells that on October 5, Tenpyō 4 (October 28, 732 AD), his student Karakuni no Hirotari
was elected as the Head Apothecary ( 典薬頭 Ten'yaku no Kami), the highest position in Agency for Apothecary (典薬寮
Ten'yaku-ryō).[2]

In the religion Shugendō

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In folk religion, En no Ozunu is traditionally held to be the founder of Shugendō,[3] a

syncretic religion incorporating aspects of Taoism, Shinto, esoteric Buddhism
(especially Shingon Mikkyō and the Tendai sect) and traditional Japanese
shamanism.[4]

En no Gyōja was conferred the posthumous title Jinben Daibosatsu (Great

Bodhisattva Jinben, 神 変 ⼤ 菩 薩 ) at a ceremony held in 1799 to commemorate the
one-thousandth year of his passing. Authorship of the non-canonical Sutra on the
Unlimited Life of the Threefold Body is attributed to En no Gyōja. Due to his mythical
status as a mountain saint, he was believed to possess many supernatural powers.[5]

In popular culture
In the historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari by Hiroshi Aramata the
protagonist Yasunori Kato claims to be a descendant of En no Gyōja.
In the manga OZN by Shiro Ohno the protagonist is a superheroic version of En
no Ozunu.
In the SNES game Shin Megami Tensei, an NPC named En-no-ozuno resides in
Kongokai.
In the PS1 game Oni Zero: Fukkatsu, the main antagonist is En no Gyōja.
In Koji Suzuki's novel Ring, Sadako's mother drags a statuette of En no Ozunu
Muromachi period portrait
from the sea.
of En no Gyōja
In Netflix's, "Ninja Assassin," the antagonist is 'Master Ozunu;' whom heads the,
"9 Clan". accompanied by two oni
(demons) providing water
and wood
Explanatory notes
a. See Sexagenary cycle#Problems with English translation. The sequential number for "fire ox" may be 14th, but
this does not determine the day of month, because it is continuously carried over, and does not reset to zero at the
start of each month.

References
Citations

續⽇本紀
1. Keizai Zasshisha, ed. (1897), 國史⼤系
(http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/991092/9) [Shoku Nihongi],
丁丑。役君⼩⻆流于伊⾖島。初⼩⻆住於葛⽊⼭。以咒
[Grand Collection of National History] (in Chinese), 2, p. 7, "
術稱。外從五位下韓國連廣⾜師焉。後害其能。讒以妖惑。故配遠處。世相傳云。⼩⻆能役使⻤神。汲⽔採薪。若
不⽤命。即以咒縛之。"
2. Keizai Zasshisha 1897, 續⽇本紀 [Shoku Nihongi], p.189 (http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/991092/100) (in Chinese)
3. Keenan 1989, 2, 171–172
4. Blacker, Carmen. The Catalpa Bow. 2nd ed. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1986.
5. Kodansha, Encyclopedia of Japan. Vol.2, Tokyo, 1983.

Bibliography

Keenan, Linda Klepinger (1989). En no Gyōja: the legend of a holy man in the twelve centuries of Japanese
literature. 4 vols. University of Wisconsin--Madison. ISBN 9781134384624.: v.1 (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=OFvTAAAAMAAJ), v. 2 (https://books.google.com/books?id=OorOAAAAMAAJ)

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