著者

神田 千里

出版者

公益財団法人史学会

雑誌

史學雜誌 (ISSN:00182478)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.90, no.11, pp.1654-1672, 1745-1744, 1981-11-20

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Why was the cult of ikko (一向宗) regarded by the ruling classes of the Sengoku period as a dangerous one related to rebellions? The purpose of this note is to throw some light upon this problem, which, despite the enormous accumulation of research on the cult, has not yet been sufficiently thought out. As the material for the study, the outbreak of ikko-ikki in Kaga Province (加賀国) in 1474 was chosen. To begin with, one can point out the following two features about this uprising: 1)it was a religious insurrection led by the Honganji-monto (本願寺門徒), the followers of the temple Honganji, in the province of Kaga, and was carried out under the slogan to overthrow the enemies of Buddhism; 2)it produced Honganji-monto organizations, called gun (郡), that dominated counties throughout the province. These are the facts which convinced the author of necessity to consider the religious sentiments of the Honganji-monto of Kaga. Former studies have stated that the ikko cult was merely another name and therefore identical to jodoshinshu (浄土真宗), or the pure land sect, of which Honganji was the head temple. These studies also state that ikko cult adherents, with the exception of some so-called "heretics," were jodoshinshu, believers. However, from the fact that the thought and behavior of these very "heretics" were not only in accord with the outlook of the ikko cult current at the time but also identical to the thought and behavior of the rebels in Kaga, the author concludes that the ikko cult must be thought of as being different from the jodoshinshu sect, and that the Honganji-monto of Kaga professed themselves to be believers not in the latter sect, but in the former, which was truly a rebellious cult. So far as can be judged from available sources, ikko cult missionaries included lower class priests, pilgrim ascetics (山伏) and sorcerers (陰陽師), all of whom, despite their "heretical" acts, were considered by Rennyo (蓮如), the chief priest of Honganji, to be ideological disciples of Shinran (親鸞), who formulated the pure land thought.