Tsuda Tetsuei, ‘Images of Stars and their Significance in Japanese Esoteric Art of the Heian Period’, Culture and Cosmos, Vol.10 no 1 and 2, Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2009, pp. 145-192.

Abstract.

This essay considers the significance of images of stars within the framework of   Esoteric Buddhism in the Heian Period. Firstly, it outlines the development of Heian Esoteric Art in three stages, and points at the appearance of star icons in the third stage. Secondly, it examines some representative examples of this iconography as developed by competing schools of Esoteric Buddhism: the rectangular star mandala created by the Shingon Ninna-ji school; the Sonjōō mandala created by the Tendai Jimon school; and the circular star mandala created by the Tendai Sanmon school. I discuss the similarities that occur in these representations, for example the position of stars, and reconsider the historical significance of the creation of such icons in the area of the capital from the late tenth to the early eleventh centuries. In addition, I introduce one example of unique star imagery created at the same time in the provinces. 

Meri Arichi, ‘Seven Stars of Heaven and Seven Shrines on Earth: The Big Dipper and the Hie Shrine in the Medieval Period’, Culture and Cosmos, Vol. 10 no 1 and 2, Spring/ Summer and Autumn/Winter 2006, pp. 195-216.

Abstract.

The belief in Sannō, the kami of the Hie Shrine, evolved under the strong influence of Tendai Buddhism during the medieval period. Esoteric scriptures and ritual manuals related to astronomy and astrology encouraged the association of the seven stars of the constellation of the Big Dipper with the seven principal shrines at Hie. The hierarchical grouping of shrines in three units of seven suggests the theoretical input from the Buddhist monks of the Enryaku-ji to the development of the shrine. However the connection of stars and shrines was eradicated after the separation of temples and shrines (shinbutsu-bunri) carried out by the Meiji government in the late 19th century, and little evidence of star-related rituals at the shrine remains today. This paper examines the iconography of the Hie-Sannō Mandara from the Kamakura period in the collection of Saikyō-ji, and considers the significance of the Big Dipper in the context of the Hie-Sannō belief from visual and textual sources.


Gaynor Sekimori, ‘Star Rituals and Nikkō Shugendō’, Culture and Cosmos, Vol. 10 no 1 and 2, Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2006, pp. 217-250.

Abstract.

Star rituals in Japan are offerings made to the stars and constellations to increase fortune and ensure long life. They are highly influenced both by Chinese models and Esoteric Buddhism. State ritual tended to focus on the Pole Star, especially in its Buddhist deified form, Myōken Bosatsu. Today, hoshi matsuri (star festivals) are widely performed as annual ritual events held particularly at the beginning of spring. This paper takes as its starting point the unusual prevalence of shrines known as star shrines (Hoshi no Miya) in the vicinity of Nikkō, and examines the significance of stars in the traditions of medieval Nikkō Shugendō, its role in the proliferation of Hoshi no Miya in the region, and the existence today of a star rite dedicated to Myōken in the form of the ‘Honoured Star Monarch’ (Sonjōō), as a major ritual within the revivified Nikkō Shugendō.