The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2746 page)

see
EISAI
.

 
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see
PIYYUT
.

 
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(Jap.). In
Shinto
, a family of diviners serving in the emperor's court in ancient times, later serving as hereditary priests in the Yoshida Shrine and Hirano Shrine of
Ky
to
. Before 1387, they were known as the Urabe family. The members of this family were recognized as scholars of classical and Shinto studies. Urabe Kanekata was a 13th-cent. scholar who compiled
Shaku nihongi
, an important commentary on the
Nihon-shoki
; and his son Kanefumi wrote the earliest extant commentary on the
Kojiki
. The famous writer Yoshida Kenk
(
c.
1283–
c.
1352), author of the
Tsurezuregusa
(Essays in Idleness), was also of this family. Their greatest Shinto scholar was Yoshida Kanetomo (1435–1511), who organized and systematized the Yoshida traditions and founded the school known as
Yoshida
Shint
, through which the Yoshida family played a prominent role within Shinto up until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

 
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(Jap.). A school of
Shinto
which draws on Confucianism, Taoism, and
Shingon
Buddhism, but considers Shinto as the central root or foundation. The Shinto learning passed on in the
Yoshida
priestly family since the Heian period was summarized and systematized by Yoshida Kanetomo (1435–1511), restoring the ideological independence of Shinto. This school of Shinto called itself ‘Shinto of the Original Source’ (
Gempon S
gen Shint
) because of its belief in a supreme primordial
kami
, Daigen Sonshin (Venerable Kami of the Great Origin), who preceded heaven and earth and was the source of the myriad kami. Yoshida Shint
was widely spread in Japan from the later medieval period until the Meiji Restoration and was influential in appointments to the priesthood, decisions about religious ceremonies, and the like. It was also called Yui-itsu Shinto (‘unique Shinto’) and Urabe Shinto.