Stern, with reward and punishment made plain. On those of evil heart he visits chastisement without mercy; on the deeply devout he sheds protection without stint.
Origin
Mt. Hiko (Hikosan), Buzen Province (Soeda, Tagawa District, Fukuoka)
Hiko-san Buzenbō is a great tengu enthroned on Mt. Hiko (Hikosan) in Buzen Province, and is held to be the chief—the head—of the tengu of Kyūshū. Counted among the Eight Great Tengu, he is chanted in the Muromachi Noh play Kurama Tengu[1] as "in Tsukushi, the Buzenbō of Hikosan."
Hikosan is the foremost Shugendō sacred site of northern Kyūshū, counted—together with the Dewa Sanzan and Ōmine—among the three great centers of Shugendō in Japan. The first textual appearance of his name and seat is in the Kamakura-period engi the Hikosan Ruki (1213)[2], where Buzenbō is recorded as the eighteenth of Hikosan's forty-nine grottoes, the "Buzen-kutsu." Buzenbō is enshrined at what is today Takasumi Shrine[3] (Soeda, Fukuoka, called "Buzenbō" until the Edo period), and as a tengu of both reward and punishment—visiting chastisement upon the greedy, protection upon the upright—he has struck deep roots in the mountain faith of Kyūshū.
Folklore & Legends
Hiko-san Buzenbō has been revered as the chief of the tengu of Kyūshū against the background of the vast Shugendō sacred site that is Hikosan.
The founder of Hikosan Shugendō is transmitted to be the Nara-period monk Hōren. Hōren was the first betto of Mirokuji, the temple attached to Usa Jingū, and the Shoku Nihongi[4] records that in the third year of Taihō (703) he was granted forty chō of field in Buzen Province—his historical existence is certain. The name of Buzenbō appears in the Kamakura-period engi the Hikosan Ruki (1213)[2], which likens Hikosan's forty-nine grottoes to the forty-nine halls of Miroku's Tosotsu Heaven and makes the eighteenth, the "Buzen-kutsu," the seat of Buzenbō. This is the first textual appearance of his name and seat. In the Edo period a vast temple-town styled the "Three Thousand Eight Hundred Bō of Hikosan" took form, said to have held three thousand monks and eight hundred lodges.
Takasumi Shrine[3], where Buzenbō is enshrined, was called "Buzenbō" until the Edo period and was renamed Takasumi Shrine after the Meiji separation of Shintō and Buddhism. Its enshrined deity is Toyohiwake-no-mikoto. Its history transmits that Buzenbō is a tengu of two faces, reward and punishment. Upon the greedy and the arrogant he sends tengu to carry off their children and set fire to their houses; the wishes of the deeply devout he hears and grants, and them he guards. As this stern judging tengu, and as the leader-rank of the tengu host of Kyūshū and a guardian deity of cattle and horses, he was deeply worshipped throughout the Hikosan region.
The separation of Shintō and Buddhism in the first year of Meiji and the prohibition of Shugendō in Meiji 5 (1872) scattered the yamabushi of Hikosan and lost the flourishing of the three thousand eight hundred bō. Yet the tengu faith of Buzenbō was inherited by Takasumi Shrine, and as the representative great tengu of Kyūshū, standing among the forty-eight tengu of the Tengu-kyō[5], it is transmitted to this day. Chigiri Kōsai[6] of tengu scholarship, too, records Buzenbō as one of the great tengu of the many mountains.
The key to reading Hiko-san Buzenbō lies in Hikosan—the vast sacred site that is one of the three great centers of Shugendō in Japan—and in the tengu's character of two faces, reward and punishment.
The history of Hikosan Shugendō issues from the Nara-period monk Hōren[4]. Taking as founder this monk, whom the Shoku Nihongi records as having been granted forty chō of field in Buzen Province in the third year of Taihō (703), Hikosan grew into a great center of Shugendō ranking with the Dewa Sanzan and Ōmine. The name of Buzenbō appears with certainty in the Kamakura-period engi the Hikosan Ruki (1213)[2]. This work likens the forty-nine grottoes bored into the peaks of Hikosan to Miroku's Tosotsu Heaven and made the eighteenth the "Buzen-kutsu," the seat of Buzenbō. This very system of grottoes is the matrix of the faith in Buzenbō as chief of the tengu of Kyūshū. The Edo-period scale of the "Three Thousand Eight Hundred Bō of Hikosan" tells of this sacred site's prosperity.
What characterizes the tengu Buzenbō is the sternness of his reward and punishment. As the history of Takasumi Shrine[3] transmits, upon those of greedy and evil heart he carries off children and sets fire to houses in chastisement. Conversely, the wishes of the upright and deeply devout he hears and grants, and them he guards. These two faces of reward and punishment symbolize, as a tengu's judgment, the strict precepts that a Shugendō mountain imposes and the grace shown to those who keep them. The dread of a child-snatching tengu and the faith of parents praying for their children's safety were the front and back of one and the same Buzenbō.
The separation of Shintō and Buddhism in the first year of Meiji and the prohibition of Shugendō in Meiji 5 (1872) scattered the yamabushi of Hikosan and dismantled the world of the three thousand eight hundred bō. The institution of Shugendō was lost, but the tengu faith of Buzenbō lives on at Takasumi Shrine; chanted in the Muromachi Noh play Kurama Tengu[1] and standing among the forty-eight tengu of the Tengu-kyō[5] as the great tengu of Kyūshū, he is still feared as one who sits upon the peak of Hikosan. Chigiri Kōsai[6] of tengu scholarship, too, placed him within the system of the great tengu of the many mountains.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Personality
Stern, with reward and punishment made plain. On those of evil heart he visits chastisement without mercy; on the deeply devout he sheds protection without stint.
Compatibility
Those of deep faith and upright heart; ascetics who revere Hikosan; parents who pray for their children's safety
Abilities
The judgment of reward and punishment—chastising the evil-hearted, guarding the uprightCommanding the tengu beneath himThe divine power to wield fire and windCarrying off children, and also guarding themThe tutelary protection of the sacred precincts of Hikosan
Weaknesses
He turns away the faithless and the evil-hearted (= lends them no power)
Decline through the separation of Shintō and Buddhism and the prohibition of Shugendō
Restraint by the orthodox dharma
Habitat
Mt. Hiko in Buzen Province (Soeda, Fukuoka); Takasumi Shrine (the former Buzenbō); the Shugendō sacred sites of northern Kyūshū
🔮妖怪相性診断
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