Zao Gongen Engi

The Zao Gongen Engi records the revelation of Zao Gongen, the principal deity of Kinpusen-ji in Yoshino (Nara). En no Gyoja (En no Ozuno), founder of Shugendo, is said to have performed a thousand-day austerity on Mount Kinpu praying for the salvation of beings in the age of the latter law. Shakyamuni, then Senju Kannon, then Miroku appeared in succession, but En no Gyoja judged each too gentle for the corrupt age and prayed again. Zao Gongen then manifested in wrathful form, with dark-blue skin, a three-pronged vajra raised in the right hand, and the left foot kicked high; En no Gyoja carved this form into a cherry tree, which became the principal image. Zao Gongen is the representative example of gongen, a deity-form unique to Japan that arose through the doctrine of honji-suijaku. Sources include the Kinpusen Himitsu-den (Kamakura period), the Nihon Ryoiki (c. 822) and the Fuso Ryakki; later mountain names such as Dewa Sanzan and Mount Zao reflect the spread of the cult. The Kinpusen-ji main hall (Zao-do) is a National Treasure, and Yoshino is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.