Japanese Buddhism in the context of "East Asian Buddhism"

Shingon Risshū (真言律宗; "Shingon-Vinaya School") is a sect of Japanese Buddhism that integrates the pratimoksha rules, the ordination precepts of Early Buddhism (also called Root Buddhism), and the samaya rules of Vajrayana, all grounded in Shingon Buddhism's esoteric doctrine. It is noted for reviving the spirit of the Risshū sect, one of the Six Schools of Nara Buddhism (南都六宗).

The sect emphasizes adherence to the vinaya—the Buddhist monastic discipline—more than traditional Shingon Buddhism, while retaining tantric practices. Its home temple is Saidaiji Temple in Nara City.

Eison (叡尊 (Eison); courtesy name: Shien 思円; posthumous title: Kōshō Bosatsu 興正菩薩; 1201–1290) was a Japanese Buddhist monk active in the mid-Kamakura period. He founded the Shingon Risshu (Shingon Vinaya school). Eison was born in Mikata village, Soejō District, Yamato Province (present-day Yamatokōriyama, Nara), the son of the scholar-monk Keigen of Kōfuku-ji. He is regarded as one of the representative figures of Kamakura Buddhism, known for reviving the neglected Buddhist precepts and restoring the declining Saidai-ji in Nara.

Honzon (本尊, "fundamental honored [one]"), sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon (ご本尊 or 御本尊), is the enshrined main image or principal deity in Japanese Buddhism. The buddha, bodhisattva, or mandala image is located in either a temple or a household butsudan.

The image can be either a statue or a small scroll and varies from sect to sect. It can be a singular image or a group of images; the honzon in the main (hondō) or treasure (kondō) hall of the temple can be for that particular hall or the entire temple complex. Sometimes honzon is the central image (chūson) of a cluster of three (sanzonbutsu) or five (goson) images.

Shinran (親鸞; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕiꜜn.ɾaɴ], May 21, 1173 – January 16, 1263) was a key Japanese Buddhist figure of the Kamakura Period who is regarded as the founder of the Jōdo Shinshū school of Japanese Buddhism. A pupil of Hōnen, the founder of the Japanese Pure Land movement, Shinran articulated a distinctive Pure Land vision that emphasized faith and absolute reliance on Amida Buddha’s other-power.

While Shinran trained as a Tendai monk on Mount Hiei, he lived much of his life as a married Buddhist teacher unlike other Kamakura Buddhist reformers, and he described himself as "neither monk nor layman". Shinran's major work, the Kyōgyōshinshō (Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Realization), is a systematic exposition and defense of Pure Land doctrine. Shinran taught that liberation arises from the entrusting mind (shinjin) awakened through Amida's compassionate power, not from any merit or power of one's own. His interpretation profoundly reshaped the course of Japanese Buddhism and continues to influence East Asian religious thought.

Kangiten or Kankiten (Japanese: 歓喜天, "god of bliss"; Sanskrit (IAST): Nandikeśvara), also known as Binayaka (毘那夜迦; Skt. Vināyaka), Ganabachi (誐那鉢底, alternatively Ganahachi or Ganahattei; Skt. Gaṇapati), or more commonly, Shōten or Shōden (聖天, lit. "sacred god" or "noble god"), is a deva (ten) venerated mainly in the Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism.

Although Kangiten (Shōten) in the beginning was (at least at first) negatively portrayed as the creator of obstacles and the leader of a class of malignant demons who obstructed Buddhist practice called vinayakas, though later tradition made an attempt to distinguish between the vinayakas and their lord, who became seen as a manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon in Japanese) and/or the buddha Vairochana.

Kiyomizu-dera (Japanese: 清水寺; lit. 'Pure Water Monastery') is a Buddhist temple located in eastern Kyoto, Japan. It belongs to the Kita-Hosso sect of Japanese Buddhism and its honzon is a hibutsu statue of Jūichimen Kannon. The temple's full name is Otowa-san Kiyomizu-dera (音羽山 清水寺) . The temple is the 16th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage route. Along with Kōryū-ji and Kurama-dera, it is one of the few temples in Kyoto that predates the foundation of the capital to Heian-kyō. It is also one of Japan's leading temples dedicated to the worship of Kannon, along with Ishiyama-dera (Ōtsu, Shiga) and Hase-dera (Sakurai, Nara). It is a famous tourist destination in Kyoto City, attracting many pilgrims throughout the year. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gohonzon (御本尊; pronounced [ɡohoꜜɰ̃(d)zoɴ]) is a generic term for a venerated religious object in Japanese Buddhism. It may take the form of a scroll or statuary. The term gohonzon typically refers to the mainstream use of venerated objects within Nichiren Buddhism, referring to the calligraphic paper mandala inscribed by the 13th Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren 日蓮to which devotional chanting is directed.

Linguistically, the root word honzon (本尊) derives from ancient word konpon-sogyo, signifying a devotional object of respect or worship, and with the honorific go- (御) prefix.

The Rinzai school (Japanese: 臨済宗, romanized: Rinzai-shū, simplified Chinese: 临济宗; traditional Chinese: 臨濟宗; pinyin: Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of Chan Buddhism was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan Eisai (1141–1215). Contemporary Japanese Rinzai is derived entirely from the Ōtōkan lineage transmitted through Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769), who is a major figure in the revival of the Rinzai tradition.