So let me begin. First of all, I would like to thank Professor Lackner and the KGF for

providing me with this opportunity and the resources to research the subject of divination

in the tradition of Shugendo, something that is also rather the particular subject of divination

is rather new to me. And when I say provide the resources, I mean that literally because

part of the material I will present to you today fell into my hands after I came here.

So because of the my say at the KGF. So this subject began, I would say over the summer

when I decided to scan all the images in the main collection of Shugendo text, the Shugendo

Shoso three volume collection. So I had seen these images before when looking through the

text and I thought they were intriguing and I wanted to explore the logic or the patterns

in their makeup. And then I heard about the KGF and my focus shifted to the present subject

of divination and here we are. So the structure of my talk tonight will be first to give some

general observations and also to briefly introduce Shugendo because especially well, I was supposed

to speak to a room full of sinologists and now it's a zoom full and you know, nobody

would expect the sinologists to really be familiar with the tradition that even in Japan

is not that well known, at least among non academics. So after these observations in

my introduction, I want to look to take a micro level view of the methods and the general

characteristics of methods for averting disaster and problem investigation in the tradition

of Shugendo. But before I do that, I want to show you what's happening in just an example

of what's still going on in Japan today. This is a very popular temple among Japanese people,

especially teenagers in Kyoto called Kiyomizu-dera. What you see on the left here is a setup where

there's a rock where I'm pointing here with my mouse and what people have to do is stand

in front of this rock and close their eyes and try to walk in a straight line and reach

the end at another point. And if they succeed, it means they will be able to find a partner.

So two reasons why teenagers go there, especially teenagers, one is to get into the university,

which is a big deal in Japan, and the other is to find a partner. And then on the right,

you see these tablets and talismans, which are common, of course, in temples all over

Japan. So for various purposes, like happiness, avoiding car accidents, etc. And this temple

was actually known from medieval times for its dream oracle. In fact, it was one of the

famous Buddhist temples known for that. So next, I must start by saying that a talk on

divination should actually focus on the tradition of Om Yodo, which is translated as the way

of divination. But first of all, in recent years, there has been a revival, if not the

actual academic birth of the subject, through scholars such as Hayashi Makoto in Japan,

and Matthias Hayek in France, resulting in several in-depth studies. Second, my subject

happens to be Shugendo, which also included divination in its repertoire, as we will see.

And third, one difference between the two traditions is that whereas Om Yodo drew mainly

from Chinese knowledge, Shugendo appropriated both Chinese and Indian knowledge, Indian

by means of esoteric Buddhism filtered through China and Korea. And that's, I think, that's

one of the two elements that I want to explore tonight. So China and India. And the two traditions,

Shugendo and Om Yodo, actually had a contentious relationship, especially in the early modern

period. And Hayashi, Professor Hayashi Makoto has written on the disputes between the two

groups. In fact, divination in Japan, again, especially in the early modern period, which

I'll be talking about, so what we might also call the Edo period, so around 1600 to 1868.

During that period, there were a lot of religious specialists providing their services, which

included Om Yodji, Shugendja, and also Shinto and Buddhist priests. So apart from this element

of divination or different methods to assist people in their lives, Shugendo also has a

soteriological purpose, meaning enlightenment in the Mahayana Buddhist sense. And this relationship

between enlightenment and the acquisition of powers, which is, as I will soon get into

the introduction, one way in which we translate the term Shugendo. So acquisition of powers

in the sense of siddhi in the Indian Buddhist sense. So powers are recognized in Indian

Buddhism as a byproduct of practice, but they are not supposed to be the end goal of practice.