Kumano Gongen

, also known as ,https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/media/pdf/books/978-88-6969-528-5/978-88-6969-528-5-ch-05.pdfKumano Sanzan , World Heritage Registration Association, accessed on October 13, 2008 is a Japanese deity associated with Kumano Shrines.

The god is made of 12 smaller gods. Each small god has a Shinto and a Buddhist part,.https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/gongen-list-japan.html#KumanoSanshoGongenhttps://www.dmcjapan-knt.com/pdf/Mie_Prefecture.pdf

This idea is like the worship of Kasuga-no-KamiAllan G. Grapard The Protocol of the Gods: A Study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History, University of California press  which inspired people to worship this god that way.

There are two common ways to group the gods:

  – all 12 gods. 
  – just the three main gods.

 Origins 
275 px|thumb|A Kumano shrinePeople felt the Kumano area was holy even before written history. They went there to pray and to heal their bodies.

Originally each shrine first worshipped nature in its own way. In the 900s, under Buddhism, the three shrines joined their beliefs.

At that time Japanese people thought Shinto gods were forms of Buddhist buddhas. This mix of Shinto and Buddhism is called shinbutsu-shūgō.

Each Kumano god was linked to a buddha:

 Kumano Musubi → Thousand-Armed Kannon
 Hayatama → Medicine Buddha
 Ketsumi → Amida Buddha

 Hongū is linked to the Western Pure Land.
 Shingū is linked to the Eastern Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli.
 Nachi is linked to the Southern Pure Land of Potalaka.

From the Heian period (794-1185) on, people started to see all Kumano as a Pure Land. Scholars still debate which gods the shrines first worshipped.
 The 12 gods 
These are the 12 gods of Kumano

+Miyaie [1992: 60] according to the tableShrine PavilionDeityOriginal BuddhaStatue TypeThree goupsDeity groupNumberTranslationOriginalUpper Four ShrinesThree GongenRyōsho GongenFirst PavilionNishi-no-miya (Yui-miya)西宮（結宮）Izanami-no-Mikoto・Kumano Musubi Okami・Kotoamatsukami Thousand-Armed KannonSecond PavilionChū-no-miya (Hayatama Myōjin)中宮（早玉明神）Izanagi-no-Ōkami・Hayatama no OkamiMedicine BuddhaShōjō GongenThird PavilionJōsō (Ketsumi Ōji)丞相（家津王子）Susanoo-no-Mikoto・Ketsumi Mikoto OkamiAmitābhaFive Fourth PavilionWakamiya若宮Amaterasu Ōmikami (Nyakuichi Ōji)Middle Four ShrinesFifth PavilionZenji-miya禅児宮Ame-no-oshihomimiKsitigarbhaDharma Form (or Human form)Sixth PavilionSei-miya聖宮Ninigi-no-MikotoNagarjunaSeventh PavilionKo-miya児宮Hikohohodemi-no-MikotoCintāmaṇicakraEighth PavilionKomori-miya子守宮UgayafukiaezuĀryāvalokiteśvaraLower Four ShrinesFour MyōjinNinth PavilionIchiman-miya・
Jūman-miya一万宮・
十万宮Kagu-tsuchiManjushri・SamantabhadraTenth PavilionMeiji Kongō米持金剛Haniyasu-hime-no-MikotoVaishravanaEleventh PavilionHigyō Yasha飛行夜叉Mizuhanome-no-MikotoFudō MyōōTwelfth PavilionKanjō Jūgosho勧請十五所Wakumusubi-no-MikotoShakyamuni Tathāgata
Some believers count Nachi Falls as a thirteenth holy spot and god.

Others believe the god Kumanokusubi is the main god, not Izanami. Kumanokusubi is the fifth son of Amaterasu and the god of Kumano-taisha.

In popular culture
There is a character of the same name in the game Tokyo Afterschool Summoners.

Related pages
Kasuga-no-Kami

 Notes 

 References 

 Sources 



 D. Max Moerman, Localizing Paradise: Kumano Pilgrimage and the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan. Harvard University Press, 2004. 
  Moerman, David (1997). The ideology of landscape and the theater of state: Insei pilgrimage to Kumano (1090–1220), Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 24 (3-4), 347-374

Other websites
Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau 
A traditional depiction of Kumano Gongen

Category:Gods and goddesses of Japan
Category:Gongen