Jikko-kyo

   'Practice Teaching'. One of the thirteen sects of kyoha shinto. It developed out of a lay mountain-religion tradition founded in the early eighteenth century by Ito, Jikigyo who regarded himself as an incarnation of the bosatsu Miroku. Ito's 'Miroku-ha' was itself derived from the teachings of the sixteenth century ascetic of Mt. Fuji, Hasegawa, Kakugyo (1541-1646). The teachings were reinterpreted by Kotani Sanshi Rokugyo (d.1841) who taught that the whole world was under the care of the kami Father and Mother of All (Moto-no-chichi-haha) who resides on Mt. Fuji, and reinterpreted again by the Buddhist priest Tokudaiji, Sangyo who eliminated all references to Buddhist deities in accordance with kokugaku orthodoxy. After the Meiji restoration Tokudaiji worked with his associate Shibata, Hanomori (1809-1890) to align the movement with the 'taikyo' principles of the Meiji restoration and it was recognised as a sect supervised by the Shinto jimukyoku (see Shinto Taikyo) in 1873. In 1882 it became an independent sect called Shinto Jikko-kyo with Shibata as the first high priest. He is generally regarded as the founder. The sect combined reverence for Mt. Fuji with emperor-worship and broadly Confucian ethical principles. Shibata's son attended the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Today the teachings emphasise cheerfulness and sincerity in daily work. Thousands of members dressed in white climb Fuji every August shouting 'rokkon shojo' ('purification of the six sense-organs'), a phrase drawn from the Buddhist Lotus Sutra (Hokekyo), though in all respects the group has a strong 'Shinto' identity.

   The main objects of worship are three kami; of heaven, ancestral spirits and earthly kami, situated on Mt. Fuji.