Deity of shinbutsu shūgō (kami–buddha syncretism)
Kohie Gongen
小比叡権現
Kohie and Ninomiya are historical names linked with the Higashi Hongū. Today's Hiyoshi Taisha enshrines Ōyamakui no Kami there. The Sannō Festival includes rites said to represent the marriage of Ōyamakui no Kami and Kamo Tamayorihime no Kami and the birth of their child kami, and the festival conveys the bonds among the kami.
This introduction is based on materials published by shrines, temples, and schools, starting with Shōhōin. It is summarized within the scope of the beliefs and traditions those materials convey, and does not present explanations or customs common to all schools, shrines, and temples.
English pages are the site’s own translations of its Japanese pages. The sources cited are in Japanese. 日本語で読む
Kohie and the Higashi Hongū
Kohie and Ninomiya are historical names linked with the Higashi Hongū. Today's Hiyoshi Taisha enshrines Ōyamakui no Kami there. The Sannō Festival includes rites said to represent the marriage of Ōyamakui no Kami and Kamo Tamayorihime no Kami and the birth of their child kami, and the festival conveys the bonds among the kami.
Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・日吉大社・日吉大社
Prayers to Hiyoshi Ōkami for protection from misfortune and for daily life
Hiyoshi Taisha calls the kami of its shrines collectively Hiyoshi Ōkami, and introduces virtues such as protection from unlucky directions, protection from misfortune, forming bonds and household safety. Faith that protects the Buddhism of Mount Hiei and faith that guards the northeast of the capital have overlapped in this place. The wishes mentioned here are the shrine's explanation of Hiyoshi Ōkami as a whole.
Source: 日吉大社
The Sanjū Banjin, who take turns guarding one day each
The Sanjū Banjin is a belief from the fusion of kami and buddhas in which thirty kami divide the days among themselves to protect the country and the Buddhist teaching. In Shōhōin's list, each kami is assigned one day, from the 1st to the 30th. It is a grouping handed down in the Tendai and Nichiren traditions and others, and it needs to be distinguished from present-day explanations of the enshrined kami at shrines of the same name and from historical theories of their original buddhas (honji butsu).
Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院
Kami who come to hear the sutra recited: the origin story told by Shinjō-ji
Shinjō-ji, a temple of the Nichiren Shū, relates a tradition that, while Nichiren Shōnin was reading the Lotus Sutra on Mount Hiei, a different person visited him each day and revealed that they were the Sanjū Banjin. This is the temple's origin story of "the Sanjū Banjin who protect the Lotus Sutra". It is not treated as a historical event common to all faith in the Sanjū Banjin.
Source: 日蓮宗 玉蓮山真成寺
Guardians taking turns to support daily faith
Shinjō-ji introduces the Sanjū Banjin as guardian deities, from the fusion of kami and buddhas, who divide their duty by day. What the temple holds dear is the belief that they protect the Lotus Sutra and the people who believe in its teaching. This is an explanation for understanding their role as the Sanjū Banjin, in addition to the virtues handed down at each shrine.
Source: 日蓮宗 玉蓮山真成寺
Related kami and buddhas
Sources (in Japanese)
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：小比叡権現」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：目次」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：山王七社権現」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 日吉大社「日吉大社について」（2026-10-15 確認）
- 日吉大社「山王祭について」（2026-10-15 確認）
- 飛不動尊 正宝院「仏様の世界：三十番神」（2026-10-14 確認）
- 日蓮宗 玉蓮山真成寺「三十番神様」（2026-10-15 確認）