Yoshida (or Urabe), Kanetomo

(1435-1511)

   Shinto supremacist and founder of Yuiitsu Shinto, unique, peerless or unitarian Shinto, known also as Yoshida Shinto. Born into the 21 st generation of the Yoshida family (formerly called the Urabe, diviners and onmyo-sha), Kanetomo inherited priestly responsibilities for the Yoshida jinja at a time when the court nobility was less and less able to support this shrine to the ujigami of the Fujiwara. Accordingly, Kanetomo developed a form of unification (yui-itsu) Shinto combining the existing Shingon and Tendai Buddhist understanding of kami with onmyo and Chinese five elements cosmology and adapting Shingon rituals to enrich Shinto. He explained kami (deities), rei (spirit) and kokoro (the human heart) as a form of absolute existence prior to the creation of heaven and earth and promoted the idea that the yaoyorozu no kami Kami 'myriads of kami' formed a unity rather than an unconnected pantheon, and that this unity should be worshipped on Mt. Yoshida. He attracted the vigorous hostility of the priests of the Ise jingu by announcing in 1489 that the deity of Ise had transferred its residence to the Yoshida shrine. His intention was to bring all official kami-worship under the control of the Urabe/Yoshida family, and he was to a large extent successful in this, since the Yoshida became responsible for granting shrine ranks. Kanetomo's teachings strongly influenced the doctrines of, amongst others, Yoshikawa, Koretari, founder of Yoshikawa shinto.