Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1996 23/3-4 The Development of the Kenmitsu System As Japan’s Medieval Orthodoxy

Medieval Japan was dominated by a religious system, the so-called ken mitsu system, which provided a cohesive ideological structure for its social and political order. It arose against the backdrop of the medieval estate sys tem and the emerging peasant class. The core of the kenmitsu system was esoteric beliefs and practices, around which the different exoteric doctrines of Tendai and other schools coalesced. Esoteric practices were thought to embody the truths of Mahdydna Buddhism, but also to provide thau-maturgic means to control the ominous spirit world recognized by society. The teachings and practices of Pure Land Buddhism were born out of this system, and the Tendai doctrine of original enlightenment (hongaku) was an archetypal expression of it. The kenmitsu worldview provided the ideo logical basis for the medieval Japanese state, and was integrated into its system of rule. The k e n m its u ta is e i 顕密体制（exoteric-esoteric system) indicates, as a concept, the distinctive religious system that was recognized as orth