Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1989 16/2-3

Most of what we know of Shugendo belongs to the realm of densho 伝 承 ，that is, “tradition ” or miscellaneous lore. That is because Shugendo was a religion of practice rather than of theory, and one of mysteries as well—a religion of miracles and of faith. Practice (shu 修 ) and miracles (gen 験 ) require no theory, nor can mysteries or faith be recorded in written documents. Shugendo acquired theory and doctrine only after it had ceased to require dangerous, life-risk ing practices and had lost the spiritual power to work miracles. All religions have to do with a return to the source. People believe that a religion’s power was fully potent in the time of its founder, and so the ideal and goal of a religion is to return to its founder. The documents and lore passed on by the founder’s disciples con cern, for the most part, the founder’s words and deeds. Doctrine is simply a theoretical re-ordering of such material. Shugendo, however, had no founder in the usual sense，and it needed no body of do