Inori no Mori祈りの杜working title

Deity of shinbutsu shūgō (kami–buddha syncretism)

Sanjū Banjin

三十番神さんじゅうばんじん

A grouping of thirty kami who protect the country and the Lotus Sutra, taking turns day by day over thirty days.

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

The names and roles of the Sanjū Banjin

A grouping of thirty kami who protect the country and the Lotus Sutra, taking turns day by day over thirty days. It is said to have begun when Saichō enshrined them based on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the Kanjōkyō, and it is explained that they later came to be revered with particular devotion in the Nichiren Shū.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Tracing their forms and traditions

The name of the kami for each day is listed, from Atsuta Daimyōjin on the first day to Kibi Daimyōjin on the thirtieth. There is also a view that there were originally twelve kami, and it is said that from around the Kamakura period they also became guardian deities of the emperor, and that various sets of Sanjū Banjin of Buddhist and Shinto lineages appeared. The pictures are based on the Butsuzō Zui.

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院・飛不動尊 正宝院

Faith in the Sanjū Banjin, who guard in turn one day each

The Sanjū Banjin are a faith of the combined worship of kami and buddhas, in which thirty kami divide the days among themselves to protect the country and the Buddha's teaching. In Shōhōin's list, each kami is assigned a day from the first to the thirtieth. This grouping is handed down in the Tendai and Nichiren lineages and others, and present-day explanations of the enshrined kami at shrines of the same name need to be kept distinct from historical views about their honji (original buddhas).

Source: 飛不動尊 正宝院

Kami who came to hear the sutra: 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 origin story of “the Sanjū Banjin who protect the Lotus Sutra” as taught by that temple. We do not treat it as a historical event common to all faith in the Sanjū Banjin.

Source: 日蓮宗 玉蓮山真成寺

Guardians who take turns, supporting daily faith

Shinjō-ji introduces the Sanjū Banjin as guardian deities of the combined worship of kami and buddhas who divide their duty day by day. What the temple holds dear is the faith that they protect the Lotus Sutra and those who believe in its teaching. This explanation is for learning 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)