Residence at Kumano

 

After Mt. Koya, Ippen visited Kumano. Practicing at Kumano seems to have been the

natural next step in proving that the name was one with Amida Buddha, and in

demonstrating this to himself and others.

At that time, unlike Mt. Koya and many other sacred sites, it was not forbidden for

women to visit Kumano. Because the position of women in society was low, they were

not allowed to visit numerous temples and shrines. However, this was not the case at

Kumano, where no one cared about whether a person’s position in society was high or

low, or what a person’s gender was. That so many people believed in the power of the

kami of Kumano is attested to by the large numbers of commoners who gathered there,

such that the term “pilgrimage of ants to Kumano”was coined. With these people

as the object of his efforts, Ippen decided to distribute fuda. Then, as I mentioned before,

he communed with Amida Buddha, the honji of Kumano, and decided to complete, at this

location, his practical validation of the theory of the “nonduality of ten and one.”

( Ippen  93ページより)

“

高野山の次に熊野へ参詣し、阿弥陀仏と一体化した各号を論証し自他に示すためにも、熊野行きは当然のことと考えられる。

さらに当時の「熊野参り」について考えると、熊野は高野山などのように女人禁制ではない。女性の地位が低く、他の寺社では入山や参詣も許されてなかったのに、熊野では許されていた。従って熊野が身分の高下や性別を問わず、広く信仰を集めていたことは「蟻の熊野詣」とまでいわれるように多くの一般庶民を集めていたことがわかる。従って一遍はこれらの人々を対象に賦算をしようと考えていたのであろう。そして先に述べたように、熊野の本地阿弥陀仏と交感し、「十一不二論」の現実的確認をこの地で遂げようと考えていたと思われる。