On temple notice boards and calendars you will see "Today is the ennichi of such-and-such a buddha." An ennichi is a day on which one is said to form a special bond with a particular buddha. Most recur every month: the 8th for Yakushi, the 18th for Kannon, the 24th for Jizō, the 28th for Fudō, the 30th for Śākyamuni. There are also several kinds with different origins, such as those tied to the rules of the calendar, the waxing and waning of the moon, or the memorial day of a founding master (the eminent monk who established a school). This essay first sets out the origins of the ennichi in a general discussion, dividing them into five lineages, and then traces the sacred days of the principal buddhas one by one in a series of particular discussions. It is an overview that confirms why each date falls when it does, going all the way back to the original passages of the scriptures.
Preface
There are five lineages of ennichi
"Why is Yakushi's day the 8th, and Jizō's the 24th?" There are indeed Buddhist reasons behind the dates of the ennichi. But the reason is not a single one. There are five kinds (lineages) with different origins, and every buddha's ennichi falls under one of them.
Days of abstinence (sainichi)
This is the oldest stratum, with direct scriptural authority. It began as the custom of restraining oneself on fixed days, called the uposatha (fusatsu); this was organized into the six and the ten days of abstinence, and each of the ten days was assigned a guardian buddha or bodhisattva. Jizō on the 24th and Yakushi on the 8th derive from the buddhas of these ten days of abstinence.
The thirty hidden buddhas (sanjūnichi hibutsu)
This is the assignment that extended the ten days of abstinence across all thirty days of a month, filling the empty days with buddha-names drawn from the Lotus Sutra. The greater part of the monthly ennichi calendar rests on this. It is not a table fixed by any sutra, but a calendar of devotion handed down in Zen circles that spread in the Muromachi period.
Ennichi of the sexagenary cycle (eto)
This is the stratum that sets the day by the rotation of the twelve branches. The Blue-Faced Vajra on the day of the Metal Monkey (kōshin), Mahākāla on the day of the Wood Rat (kinoe-ne), and the like: the sexagenary signs of the calendar are bound to the deities worshipped on those days.
Ennichi of waiting for the moon and waiting for the sun (tsukimachi and himachi)
This is the folk devotion of waiting for the waxing or waning moon, or for the sunrise, and praying. Seishi Bodhisattva was worshipped on the night of the twenty-third, Ākāśagarbha on the night of the thirteenth, and so the moon in the night sky was overlaid with a buddha.
Days of remembrance (the memorial days of founding masters and kami)
This is the stratum tied to the memorial days of the founding masters and eminent monks who established a school, or of the kami. The 21st for Kōbō Daishi (the Miei-ku) and the like: a day of remembrance for a person became an ennichi in its own right.
In what follows, Part One traces in turn how these five lineages set their dates, going back to the original passages of the scriptures; Part Two presents a ready-reference table of the monthly ennichi and examines the origins of each principal buddha's day, one deity at a time.
Part One: General Discussion
Why does the ennichi "deliberately" choose a day?
The ennichi did not exist in early Buddhism. Śākyamuni dismissed as delusion the practice of deciding one's conduct by lucky and unlucky days or by the movement of the stars. That the ennichi exists nonetheless is because the teaching of the Buddha was overlaid onto the rhythms of the calendar that people already kept. To make use of a fixed day as a "day to restrain oneself" or a "day to form a bond with a buddha": this is an expedient means (hōben) for guiding people.
For this reason, several principles for fixing the day coexist within the ennichi. None is the orthodox one and none a mere offshoot; each binds devotion to a buddha onto a calendar that originally lay outside Buddhism. In what follows we examine, in five parts, the principle and the scriptural basis of each: the days of abstinence (sainichi), the thirty hidden buddhas (sanjūnichi hibutsu), the sexagenary cycle (eto), waiting for the moon and the sun (tsukimachi and himachi), and the days of remembrance for founding masters (soshi) and kami.
Days of abstinence: the foundation of the ennichi (the six and ten days of abstinence, and the ten buddhas of abstinence)
The root of the ennichi numbers is the days of abstinence (sainichi). These are the days on which lay people, on fixed days of the month, keep the eight precepts of abstinence, refrain from killing, and accumulate good. Their source goes back to the uposatha (fusatsu) of Śākyamuni's own time. We draw on the scriptures that authorize them in turn. And it was the assignment of a buddha or bodhisattva to each of the ten days that produced the ten buddhas of abstinence, from which Jizō on the 24th and Yakushi on the 8th derive.
The beginning of the uposatha | the Vinaya, the Uposathakkhandhaka
The uposatha was Buddhism's adoption of a custom by which the religious of India had originally gathered on the new moon, the full moon, and the half moon (the eighth) to preach the Dharma.
The uposatha later grew, beyond mere assembly and preaching, into a fortnightly monastic rite for confirming the precepts, adding the recitation of the prātimokṣa (the articles of the precepts) and the confession of faults.
What matters here is that the 8th, 14th, and 15th, the core of the days of abstinence, appear in this origin account just as they are. The dates were not a revelation peculiar to Buddhism, but Buddhism's adoption of the widely observed fortnightly days of religious assembly of that time.
2
The six days of abstinence and the patrol of the Four Heavenly Kings
The six days of abstinence and the patrol of the Four Heavenly Kings | the Sūtra of the Four Heavenly Kings
The Sūtra of the Four Heavenly Kings is the most systematic exposition of how the days of abstinence came to be fixed at six a month, and of the belief that on those days heaven watches over humankind. It is the matrix of all ennichi devotion.
Here the six days of abstinence are set out explicitly, namely the 8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 29th, and 30th of each month. It teaches that if one does good on these days, taking the threefold refuge, keeping the precepts, giving alms, and practicing filial care, one's lifespan is extended, one is guarded by good deities, and at death one is born into the heavens.
This very notion that heaven watches over humankind on particular days is the thought that runs beneath all later ennichi, down to the ten buddhas of abstinence, the thirty hidden buddhas, the waiting for the moon, and the Metal Monkey (kōshin) devotion. The three tiers of patrol, the ministers on the 8th, the princes on the 14th, and the Four Heavenly Kings themselves on the 15th, agree completely between the Chinese translation and the Pali.
Why six days of abstinence? | the explanation of the *Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom*
Nāgārjuna's *Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom* goes a step further and explains the very number of the six days of abstinence.
The *Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom* explains why these six days by appeal to the pre-Buddhist Indian notion of days assigned to the gods. This is not the teaching of Buddhism itself, but a citation of belief from a non-Buddhist teaching (gedō), namely the Brahmanical (later Hindu) lineage. According to it, the most exalted of the gods, Maheśvara (Makeishura, the Great Sovereign God, that is, Śiva), governs the four days of the 8th, 14th, 23rd, and 29th, while the 15th of the full moon and the 30th of the month's end are days common to all the gods. These six, the four days of Maheśvara together with the two days common to all the gods, became the six days of abstinence just as they are (the 8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 29th, and 30th). On these days, it teaches, the gods and demons gain strength and bring calamity upon people, and so one restrains oneself and observes abstinence.
On top of this, the *Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom* adds its most important reservation: in the Buddha's Dharma a day is inherently neither lucky nor unlucky. The days assigned to the gods are no more than belief of the Brahmanical lineage; Buddhism neither denies nor venerates them, but teaches abstinence as an expedient means that follows the worldly notion of an unlucky day as a condition for guiding people toward the good. It is a perspective that must not be forgotten in speaking of the ennichi.
4
What are the eight precepts of abstinence?
The "eight precepts of abstinence" kept on a day of abstinence | the Sūtra on Abstinence and others
What a lay person keeps for a single day and night on a day of abstinence is the eight precepts of abstinence (the eight-limbed precepts of abstinence). The Chinese *Sūtra on Abstinence* enumerates these eight articles.
The eight precepts of abstinence are: not killing; not stealing (giving alms); abstaining from sexual conduct; not lying; not drinking intoxicants; not adorning oneself with flowers and perfumes or engaging in song and dance; not lying on a high, broad bed; and not eating at the wrong time (not eating after noon).
In the scriptures, each of the eight precepts of abstinence is recited in this form: "Just as a sage who has attained awakening (an arhat) keeps the precepts in this way throughout his life, so I too keep them in the same way for this one day and night alone." That is, what a renunciant keeps for a lifetime is here taken up by a lay person for a single day.
This phrasing agrees almost word for word from the Pali scriptures to the Chinese precept-formula. It shows that this custom of abstinence, in which a lay person spends a single day living purely like a renunciant, was transmitted from India to East Asia without change of form.
The merit of keeping a day of abstinence | rebirth into the heavens
The *Aṅguttara Nikāya* of the Pali canon expounds in concrete terms the merit of keeping the eight precepts of abstinence on a day of abstinence. It surpasses, it says, becoming the king who rules the sixteen great realms.
This comparison with the sixteen great realms appears in the same way in the Chinese *Sūtra on Abstinence* and the *Sūtra of the Laywoman Viśākhā* (Yupoyi duosheqie jing).
Furthermore, the *Sūtra on Abstinence* teaches that if, having kept the eight precepts on a day of abstinence, one cultivates the five mindfulnesses (gonen: mindfulness of the Buddha, of the Dharma, of the Sangha, of the precepts, and of the heavens), the defilements of the heart are washed away. A day of abstinence was not only a day for keeping the precepts, but also a day for being mindful of the Buddha, giving alms, and cleansing the heart.
6
Abstinence on a yearly cycle
The three long months of abstinence and the eight royal days | abstinence on a yearly cycle
Besides the monthly six days of abstinence, there are the three long months of abstinence and the eight royal days on a yearly cycle. The three long months are explicitly stated in the *Brahmā's Net Sutra*, the root of the Mahāyāna precepts.
The three long months of abstinence (sanchō saigetsu) are the custom of making the entire 1st, 5th, and 9th months months of abstinence, restraining oneself with particular care throughout. The *Brahmā's Net Sutra*, the root scripture expounding the Mahāyāna precepts, explicitly states, together with the six days of abstinence, that to violate these three long months by killing and the like is to transgress the precepts.
Why these three months was given meaning by later commentary. The 1st month is the beginning when life sprouts, the 5th when it is at its height, and the 9th the start of gathering the harvest into the storehouse: each falls at a turning point of the year. Furthermore, it was explained that the heavenly emperor patrols the four quarters of the world (the four great continents) in turn month by month to examine the conduct of people, and that the months in which the world we inhabit is inspected fall precisely on these 1st, 5th, and 9th months.
The eight royal days (hachiō-nichi) are the eight annual turning points that mark the changes of the seasons. They are the eight days that combine the beginnings of spring, summer, autumn, and winter with the spring and autumn equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices, corresponding also to today's twenty-four solar terms. The now-lost *Sūtra of Tapussa* (Daiimon kyō) fixed these days, on which the gods of heaven and earth change over and yin and yang alternate, as the eight royal days.
The fixed days of the month (the six days of abstinence), the three months of the year (the three long months of abstinence), and the turning points of the seasons (the eight royal days) all rest on a single idea: heaven patrols the human realm at regular intervals and inspects good and evil, and so on those days one restrains oneself.
The root authority for the ten days of abstinence | the *Sūtra of the Past Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva*
What directly expounds the ten days of abstinence is the *Sūtra of the Past Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva*. The ten days of abstinence, the six days plus four, gave rise to ennichi such as Jizō's on the 24th.
Here the ten days of abstinence are set out explicitly, namely the 1st, 8th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 23rd, 24th, 28th, 29th, and 30th, and it teaches that on these days transgressions are gathered up (tallied) and their gravity is judged.
The same notion of a day of judgment that runs through the six days of abstinence and the eight royal days flows here as well.
The ten buddhas of abstinence | the buddha or bodhisattva to be mindful of on each day
The ten buddhas of abstinence pair, one to one, each of the ten days of abstinence with an underworld official who descends to the world below and a buddha or bodhisattva to be mindful of on that day. An underworld official is assigned to each day, and it teaches that being mindful of the corresponding buddha on that day frees one from the suffering of the corresponding hell and erases transgressions. A manuscript unearthed at Dunhuang transmits the complete assignment.
Day
Underworld official who descends
Buddha or bodhisattva to be mindful of
Merit of keeping abstinence
1st
The Youth
Dīpaṃkara Tathāgata
One does not fall into the hell of blades and spears; transgressions of forty kalpas are removed.
8th
The Prince
Yakushi, the Buddha of Lapis Lazuli Radiance (Bhaiṣajyaguru)
One does not fall into the hell of filth; transgressions of thirty kalpas are removed.
14th
The Inspector of Life
The thousand buddhas of the Auspicious Kalpa
One does not fall into the hell of the boiling cauldron; transgressions of one thousand kalpas are removed.
15th
The Great General of the Five Paths
Amitābha
One does not fall into the hell of freezing ice; transgressions of two hundred kalpas are removed.
18th
King Yama
Avalokiteśvara (Kannon)
One does not fall into the hell of the sword-tree; transgressions of ninety kalpas are removed.
23rd
The Great General
Vairocana (Rushana)
One does not fall into the hell of hungry ghosts; transgressions of one thousand kalpas are removed.
24th
Taishan Fujun, Lord of Mount Tai
Jizō (Kṣitigarbha)
One does not fall into the hell of hacking and cutting; transgressions of one thousand kalpas are removed.
28th
Indra
Amitābha
One does not fall into the hell of the iron saw; transgressions of ninety kalpas are removed.
29th
The Four Heavenly Kings
Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata Bodhisattvas
One does not fall into the hell of the grinding mill; transgressions of seven thousand kalpas are removed.
30th
King Brahmā
Śākyamuni
One does not fall into the hell of the river of ashes; transgressions of eight thousand kalpas are removed.
Source: *Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva and the Ten Days of Abstinence* (Dizang pusa shi zhairi) (Taishō No. 2850, a Dunhuang manuscript). A nearly identical variant is the *Four Days of Abstinence of the Mahāyāna* (Dasheng si zhairi) (Taishō No. 2849). The one who governs the 24th is Taishan Fujun (the Lord of Mount Tai), the ruler of the underworld and the hells. It is a coherent pairing to assign to that day Jizō, the savior of the hells. Note that the principal buddha of the 28th is Amitābha, not Fudō. The origin of each deity's ennichi is examined one by one in the particular discussions of Part Two.
The thirty hidden buddhas are buddhas and bodhisattvas assigned, one for each day, to the thirty days of a month. There is no sutra that expounds them; it is a custom of devotion arranged so that one may venerate the buddha of each particular day. It originated in the ten buddhas of abstinence (Lineage 1), which assigned a buddha to each of the ten days of abstinence; this was extended across all thirty days, and the empty days were filled with buddha-names drawn from the Lotus Sutra. Below we present the assignment for the thirty days and then examine how it came to be.
The thirty hidden buddhas
The thirty hidden buddhas: the buddha of all thirty days
The buddha or bodhisattva assigned to each of the thirty days of a month.
Day
Buddha-name
1st
Dīpaṃkara Buddha
2nd
Pradīpaprabha Buddha
3rd
Prabhūtaratna Buddha
4th
Akṣobhya Tathāgata
5th
Maitreya Buddha
6th
The Buddha of Twenty Thousand Lamps
7th
The Buddha of Thirty Thousand Lamps
8th
Yakushi Tathāgata
9th
Mahābhijñā-jñānābhibhū Buddha
10th
The Buddha of the Lamp of Sun and Moon
11th
The Buddha of Joy
12th
The Invincible Buddha
13th
Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva
14th
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva
15th
Amitābha
16th
Dhāraṇī Bodhisattva
17th
Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva
18th
Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva
19th
Sūryaprabha Bodhisattva
20th
Candraprabha Bodhisattva
21st
Akṣayamati Bodhisattva
22nd
Abhayaṃdada Bodhisattva
23rd
Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva
24th
Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva
25th
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva
26th
Bhaiṣajyasamudgata Bodhisattva
27th
Vairocana Buddha
28th
Mahāvairocana Tathāgata
29th
Bhaiṣajyarāja Bodhisattva
30th
Śākyamuni Tathāgata
The original thirty buddha-names are lined with names drawn from the Lotus Sutra, such as Prabhūtaratna, Mahābhijñā-jñānābhibhū, the Lamp of Sun and Moon, the Buddhas of Twenty and Thirty Thousand Lamps, Akṣayamati, and Abhayaṃdada. There are several traditions of the assignment, and the one given here is the standard form common to the pilgrimage sites and temple materials. The right-hand column, "the assignment current among the people," spread when independent ennichi and ennichi of the kami, such as Myōken, Yakushi, and Kannon, were overlaid onto the foundation of the thirty buddha-names; overlaying Fudō and Mahāvairocana on the 28th is an esoteric joining made in Japan.
1
How the thirty hidden buddhas came to be
How the thirty hidden buddhas came to be
Each buddha-name appears in the scriptures. The table itself, however, which assigns thirty buddhas to thirty days, is found in no sutra; it is a custom of devotion arranged so that one may venerate the buddha of each day.
The thirty hidden buddhas were formed by extending the ten buddhas of abstinence, which assigned a buddha to each of the ten days of abstinence, across all thirty days of the month, and filling the empty days with buddha-names drawn from the Lotus Sutra. In Japan they spread by way of Zen circles in the Muromachi period.
The assignment is not fixed. Depending on the temple, the region, and the lineage of transmission, a different buddha may be assigned even to the same day. Each deity's own ennichi has also developed separately, and its origin is examined one by one in Part Two.
Lineage 3
Ennichi of the sexagenary cycle
These are ennichi fixed not by the day of the month but by the rotation of the twelve branches (jūnishi: the twelve animals, Rat, Ox, Tiger, and so on). Most are explained by the bond between a deity and its messenger animal (kenzoku). We present this list. The origin of each deity's ennichi is examined one by one in the particular discussions of Part Two.
The sexagenary lineage
List of ennichi of the sexagenary lineage
Ennichi fixed not by the day of the month but by the rotation of the twelve branches. Most are explained by the bond between a deity and its messenger animal.
Sexagenary sign
Deity
Name
Key point of origin
Day of the Wood Rat (kinoe-ne)
Mahākāla (Daikokuten)
Kinoe-ne machi; first Wood Rat
Once every sixty days. The rat is Mahākāla's messenger. One stays up until midnight to worship.
Day of the Rat (ne)
Mahākāla (Daikokuten)
Once every twelve days. A simplified form of the Wood Rat day.
Day of the Tiger (tora)
Bishamonten (Vaiśravaṇa)
First Tiger
From the tradition that Bishamonten manifested in the year, day, and hour of the Tiger (Mount Shigi). The tiger is his messenger.
Day of the Horse (uma) (especially the first in the 2nd month)
Inari (Ḍākinī, Dakiniten)
First Horse; second Horse
The day the deity of Fushimi Inari descended is held to be the first Horse day of the 2nd month, Wadō 4.
Day of the Snake (mi)
Benzaiten (Sarasvatī)
Snake-day visit
Once every twelve days. The snake is Benzaiten's messenger and manifestation.
Day of the Earth Snake (tsuchinoto-mi)
Benzaiten (Sarasvatī)
Earth Snake festival; Earth Snake vigil
Once every sixty days. The most exalted of the Snake days. For fortune in money and wealth.
Day of the Boar (i)
Marishiten (Mārīcī)
Boar-day visit
The boar is Marishiten's messenger and mount. The Boar market at Ueno and the like.
Day of the Metal Monkey (kanoe-saru)
Blue-Faced Vajra; Indra
Metal Monkey vigil; first Metal Monkey
Once every sixty days. One stays awake through the night to prevent the three corpse-worms from escaping. In Shintō, Sarutahiko.
十二支で決まる縁日
曜日ではなく十二支の巡りで決まる縁日です。多くは、その尊の使いの動物との結びつきによります。
Lineage 4
Ennichi of waiting for the moon and the sun
This is the devotion in which a congregation (kōjū, a gathering of fellow believers) assembles on the night of a particular lunar phase, venerates the moon, and makes offerings to a principal deity. Stones for waiting on the moon (tsukimachi-tō) remain throughout the country. The practice can be confirmed from the Muromachi period and flourished in the Bunka and Bunsei eras of the Edo period. We present a list of the principal deities. The origin of each deity's ennichi is examined one by one in the particular discussions of Part Two.
List of principal deities for waiting on the moon and the sun
The devotion in which a congregation assembles on the night of a particular lunar phase, venerates the moon, and makes offerings to a principal deity. Stones for waiting on the moon remain throughout the country. The practice can be confirmed from the Muromachi period and flourished in the Bunka and Bunsei eras of the Edo period.
The twenty-third night vigil; the three-night vigil. The most widely distributed of the moon-waiting devotions throughout the country. Seishi is the original ground of the moon-deva.
Night of the twenty-sixth
Aizen Myōō (Rāgarāja) (also the Amitābha triad)
The twenty-sixth night vigil. Flourished at Takanawa and Shinagawa in Edo.
Metal Monkey vigil
Blue-Faced Vajra; Indra
Overlaps with the sexagenary lineage. An all-night sun-waiting vigil.
Wood Rat vigil
Mahākāla (Daikokuten)
Overlaps with the sexagenary lineage.
Earth Snake vigil
Benzaiten (Sarasvatī)
Overlaps with the sexagenary lineage.
The nineteenth night of moon-waiting (Cintāmaṇicakra Kannon) and the 19th of the monthly ennichi (Horse-Headed Kannon) are of different lineages and have different principal deities. The twenty-sixth night of moon-waiting (Aizen Myōō) and the 26th of the monthly ennichi (Aizen Myōō) have the same principal deity.
Ennichi of founding masters and kami: based on days of remembrance
Another principle that fixes the day of an ennichi is the day of remembrance of a person. Ennichi were established after the memorial days of school founders, eminent monks, and kami (mostly moving from the annual memorial day to the monthly memorial day). Rather than taking the numbers of the calendar as their cue, as the days of abstinence and the thirty hidden buddhas do, these take as their cue the day on which that person departed this world. Only the way of fixing the day differs; in being a day to form a bond with a buddha or a worthy of the past, they are no different from the other ennichi. We present a list. The origin for each person is examined one by one in the particular discussions of Part Two.
Founding masters and kami
List of ennichi of founding masters and kami
Ennichi based on the memorial days of school founders, eminent monks, historical persons, and kami (mostly moving from the annual memorial day to the monthly memorial day). They are unrelated to the numerical schemes of the days of abstinence or the thirty hidden buddhas.
Day
Subject
Origin (memorial day, birthday, etc.)
The 3rd of each month / January 3
Ganzan Daishi (Ryōgen)
Memorial day January 3, 985. Founder of the Horned Daishi and of fortune-slips. The first Daishi of the year in the Tendai lineage.
The 13th of each month
Nichiren Shōnin
Passing October 13, 1282. Monthly memorial day the 13th. The Oeshiki.
The 16th of each month
Shinran Shōnin
Passing (Kōchō 2, 11th month, 28th day / January 16 by the new calendar). Held by some as the monthly memorial day the 16th; the Hōonkō lineage.
The 21st of each month
Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai)
Entry into meditation March 21, 835. Monthly memorial day the 21st. The Miei-ku. The most firmly established in the Shingon lineage.
The 22nd of each month
Prince Shōtoku
Memorial day February 22, 622. The Prince's memorial at Shitennō-ji and Hōryū-ji.
The 25th of each month
Tenjin (Sugawara no Michizane)
The 25th by both the birth on June 25 and the death on February 25. Kitano and Dazaifu.
The 25th of each month
Hōnen Shōnin
Passing January 25, 1212. Monthly memorial day the 25th. The same 25th as Tenjin.
June 7
En no Gyōja (En no Ozunu)
The tradition of his ascent to heaven. Founder of Shugendō. Kinpusen-ji and the like.
October 5
Bodhidharma
The memorial day of the first patriarch of the Zen school (the Daruma-ki).
The "first Daishi of the year" differs in subject between Kōbō Daishi (January 21) and Ganzan Daishi (January 3). Mañjuśrī, Tenjin, and Hōnen Shōnin coincide on the 25th, and Fudō and Shinran Shōnin on the 28th, but these are cases in which the calendar of memorial days and the assignment of principal deities, two distinct principles, happened to meet on the same number.
1
Ennichi deriving from memorial days
Founding masters and kami | ennichi deriving from memorial days
Ennichi deriving from the memorial days of historical persons. These are unrelated to the numerical schemes of the days of abstinence or the thirty hidden buddhas.
The ennichi of founding masters and kami were formed when the day on which that person died (the annual memorial day) was extended into a monthly memorial day that recurs each month. Whereas the ennichi of buddhas and bodhisattvas are fixed by the numerical schemes of the days of abstinence or the thirty hidden buddhas, these take as their starting point the historical date of a real person.
Mañjuśrī coincides with Tenjin and Hōnen Shōnin on the 25th, and Fudō with Shinran Shōnin on the 28th, but these are chance coincidences. The calendar of memorial days and the monthly assignment of principal deities, two distinct principles, happened to meet on the same number. The origin of each person's ennichi is examined one by one in the particular discussions of Part Two that follow.
Part Two: Particular Discussions
The ennichi of the principal buddhas
From here we examine the origin of the ennichi for each of the principal buddhas, one deity at a time. We first present a ready-reference table of the monthly ennichi, and then trace, in the order of tathāgatas, bodhisattvas, wisdom kings, devas, and founding masters and kami, each date while indicating to which lineage it belongs.
Ready-reference table
Calendar of monthly ennichi (1st to 30th)
First, a practical ready-reference table. We present the monthly ennichi current among the people, from the 1st to the 30th. On the foundation of the assignment of the thirty hidden buddhas (the original form being the thirty buddha-names), independent ennichi and ennichi of the kami coexist. Several deities often stand side by side on the same day, and this is the main cause of the "variation" in ennichi lists.
Day
Principal deity
Name of the ennichi
Notes and variant traditions
1st
Myōken Bodhisattva
Myōken ennichi
Some lineages place Myōken on the 15th.
2nd
Life-Prolonging Jizō
3rd
Ganzan Daishi (Ryōgen)
Ganzan Daishi ennichi
Derives from Ryōgen's memorial day, January 3. The first Daishi of the year in the Tendai lineage.
4th
Akṣobhya Tathāgata
5th
Maitreya Bodhisattva
Maitreya ennichi
Suitengū (of the Shintō lineage) stands alongside.
6th
The Buddha of Twenty Thousand Lamps
7th
Thousand-Armed Kannon
The tradition placing it on the 17th is also strong.
8th
Yakushi Tathāgata
Yakushi ennichi; first Yakushi
Kishimojin on the 8th is also established. Some temples place it on the 12th.
9th
Mahābhijñā-jñānābhibhū Buddha
10th
Konpira (Kotohira)
Konpira ennichi
The 10th in the Shugendō and Shintō lineages.
11th
Hachiman Daibosatsu
12th
Yakushi Tathāgata
Coexists with the 8th.
13th
Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva
Ākāśagarbha ennichi
Nichiren Shōnin on the 13th stands alongside.
14th
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva
Samantabhadra ennichi
15th
Amitābha Tathāgata
Amitābha ennichi
A fixed day since the Heian period. There is also a tradition placing Myōken on the 15th.
16th
King Yama
Yama ennichi; first Yama
Kangiten (Shōten) on the 16th, and Shinran Shōnin's monthly memorial day the 16th, stand alongside.
17th
Thousand-Armed Kannon
Coexists with the 7th.
18th
Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva
Kannon ennichi; first Kannon; the day of forty-six thousand days
The oldest ennichi record in the literature (the *Konjaku Monogatarishū*).
19th
Horse-Headed Kannon
Horse-Headed Kannon ennichi
Of a different lineage from the nineteenth night of moon-waiting (Cintāmaṇicakra Kannon).
20th
Eleven-Headed Kannon
Twentieth-day Ebisu
Ebisu (of the Shintō lineage) stands alongside.
21st
Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai)
Daishi ennichi; first Daishi
A separate lineage deriving from the memorial day. In the hidden-buddha assignment, Cundī (Juntei) and Akṣayamati Bodhisattva.
22nd
Cintāmaṇicakra (Nyoirin) Kannon
The Prince's memorial
Prince Shōtoku's monthly memorial day the 22nd stands alongside (Shitennō-ji).
23rd
Seishi Bodhisattva
The twenty-third night
Coincides with the twenty-third night of moon-waiting (Seishi).
24th
Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva
Jizō ennichi; first Jizō
A fixed day since the Heian period. Atago Gongen on the 24th stands alongside.
25th
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva
Tenjin ennichi; first Tenjin
Tenjin (Sugawara no Michizane) and Hōnen Shōnin on the 25th stand alongside.
26th
Aizen Myōō
Aizen ennichi; the twenty-sixth night
Coincides with the twenty-sixth night of moon-waiting (Aizen).
27th
Vairocana Buddha
28th
Fudō Myōō; Mahāvairocana
Fudō ennichi; first Fudō; closing Fudō
Fudō and Mahāvairocana on the same 28th. An assignment made in Japan.
29th
Bhaiṣajyarāja Bodhisattva
30th
Śākyamuni Tathāgata
Śākyamuni ennichi; the last day of the month
The close of the thirty buddha-names.
The deities in bold are ennichi firmly established among the people. Note that deities of the Shintō lineage (Myōken, Konpira, Tenjin, Ebisu, Suitengū) coexist within the Buddhist ennichi calendar. The principal data rest on the calendar-based assignment of the thirty hidden buddhas (the original form being the thirty buddha-names).
Tathāgatas
Śākyamuni Tathāgata
The 30th of each month (plus the annual observances: birth on 4/8, awakening on 12/8, parinirvāṇa on 2/15)
Thirty hidden buddhas
Annual observance
The 30th of each month is the close of the thirty buddha-names. Apart from this, there are three great festivals that come round once a year. The birth (April 8, the Kanbutsu-e) and the parinirvāṇa (February 15, the Nehan-e) have their dates explicitly stated in the scriptures. The awakening (December 8, the Jōdō-e) had no fixed month and day in the early scriptures and was compiled and fixed in China as the Rōhachi-e. These are days of annual observance, resting on a basis distinct from the monthly ennichi of the 30th.
Yakushi Tathāgata
The 8th
Ten buddhas of abstinence
Thirty hidden buddhas
The 8th is the central day of the six days of abstinence. Yakushi devotion was originally expounded in connection with the eight-part precepts of abstinence (hachibu saikai, that is, the eight precepts of abstinence), and this affinity with abstinence lies behind Yakushi's assignment to the 8th among the ten buddhas of abstinence. In the thirty buddha-names too Yakushi is placed on the 8th, and in the assignment current among the people Yakushi also appears on the 12th.
Amitābha Tathāgata
The 15th
Ten buddhas of abstinence
Thirty hidden buddhas
Moon-waiting
Amitābha is assigned to the 15th of the full moon. In both the ten buddhas of abstinence and the thirty buddha-names the 15th is Amitābha. Amitābha's contemplation of the sun (nissōkan) is a contemplation that visualizes the sun setting in the west, and it specifies no calendar date. The link between the 15th, the full moon, and fullness and the western quarter is a symbolic association. In the ten buddhas of abstinence Amitābha is also assigned to the 28th, and on the twenty-sixth night of moon-waiting it is told that the Amitābha triad (Amitābha, Kannon, and Seishi) appears in the moonlight.
Mahāvairocana Tathāgata
The 28th
Thirty hidden buddhas
Mahāvairocana (Dainichi Nyorai) is the root buddha of Shingon esoteric Buddhism, held to be truth itself, illuminating every world. All buddhas and bodhisattvas are taught to arise from this Mahāvairocana. The 28th is the assignment within the thirty buddha-names, and Fudō Myōō, his manifestation, is bound to the same 28th.
Maitreya Bodhisattva
The 5th
Thirty hidden buddhas
Maitreya Bodhisattva (Miroku Bosatsu) is the future buddha who, 5.67 billion years after Śākyamuni's parinirvāṇa, will appear in this world, attain awakening beneath the dragon-flower tree, and save all beings. Until then, it is taught, he waits in Tuṣita Heaven. The ennichi of the 5th rests on the assignment of the thirty buddha-names; the scriptures specify no date.
Akṣobhya Tathāgata
The 4th
Thirty hidden buddhas
Akṣobhya Tathāgata (Ashuku Nyorai) is the buddha held to dwell in the eastern realm of Abhirati (Myōki), and he symbolizes the "unshakable mind" that grows angry at nothing and is never moved. The ennichi of the 4th rests on the assignment of the thirty buddha-names.
Bodhisattvas
Kannon Bodhisattva
The 18th
Ten buddhas of abstinence
Kannon Bodhisattva (Kannon Bosatsu) is the bodhisattva of compassion, held to hear the voices of beings in suffering and to appear in many forms to save them, each according to need. He has been cherished in many forms, such as Eleven-Headed, Thousand-Armed, and Cintāmaṇicakra. The ennichi of the 18th is one of the oldest records in the literature (the *Konjaku Monogatarishū*); the scriptures specify no 18th, and it rests on the assignment of the ten buddhas of abstinence. Because Kannon has so many forms, in the assignment current among the people and in moon-waiting he also appears on other days as Thousand-Armed, Horse-Headed, Eleven-Headed, Cintāmaṇicakra, Cundī (Juntei), and so on. For example, the 7th and 17th of the current assignment (Thousand-Armed), the 19th (Horse-Headed), the 20th (Eleven-Headed), the 22nd (Cintāmaṇicakra), and the 21st (Cundī), or the nineteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-second nights of moon-waiting.
Seishi Bodhisattva
The 23rd (the twenty-third night)
Thirty hidden buddhas
Moon-waiting
He is the bodhisattva of the light of wisdom and the bodhisattva of the nenbutsu. The ennichi of the 23rd rests on the assignment of the thirty buddha-names (the thirty hidden buddhas). He is moreover the principal deity of the twenty-third night, the most widely spread of all the moon-waiting devotions throughout the country, and the symbolism of moon-waiting, which sees the moonlight of the night sky as the light of wisdom, resonates with the scripture that expounds Seishi. The long nights of recitation of the Buddha's name while waiting for the moon also overlap with his practice of the unbroken succession of pure mindfulness (jōnen sōkei).
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva
The 25th
Thirty hidden buddhas
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva (Monju Bosatsu) is the bodhisattva who presides over surpassing wisdom, giving rise even to the proverb "three heads together make the wisdom of Mañjuśrī." He is depicted riding a lion and holding the sword of wisdom. The ennichi of the 25th rests on the assignment of the thirty buddha-names, and on the same 25th the ennichi of the memorial days of Tenjin and Hōnen Shōnin coincide.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva
The 14th
Thirty hidden buddhas
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (Fugen Bosatsu) is the bodhisattva who, over against Mañjuśrī's wisdom, presides over "practice," depicted riding a white elephant. He is also known as the bodhisattva who guards those who keep the Lotus Sutra, and he often appears in scenes that expound the salvation of women. The ennichi of the 14th rests on the assignment of the thirty buddha-names (the thirty hidden buddhas). In the ten buddhas of abstinence the thousand buddhas of the Auspicious Kalpa are placed on the 14th, not Samantabhadra.
Jizō Bodhisattva
The 24th
Ten buddhas of abstinence
The one who governs the 24th is Taishan Fujun (the Lord of Mount Tai), the ruler of the underworld and the hells. To assign to that day Jizō Bodhisattva, the savior of the hells, is a pairing coherent within the teaching. He is the deity most surely confirmed by the scriptures among all the ennichi. The authority for the ten days of abstinence themselves lies, as seen in Lineage 2 of Part One, in the *Sūtra of the Past Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva*.
Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva
The 13th
Thirty hidden buddhas
The thirteen buddhas
The thirteen-year-old visit
Moon-waiting
The link between Ākāśagarbha and "13" is not a single one. At least four threads overlap. First, the ennichi of the 13th of each month: that Ākāśagarbha was placed on the 13th among the thirty hidden buddhas is the direct source of the monthly ennichi. Second, the thirteenth of the thirteen buddhas (jūsanbutsu): the last of the thirteen deities for memorial services, the principal deity of the thirty-third-year memorial, is Ākāśagarbha. Third, the thirteen-year-old visit (jūsan-mairi): the custom by which a child of thirteen by the count prays to Ākāśagarbha for wisdom, on the 13th of the third month by the old calendar, with Hōrin-ji in Arashiyama as the famous sacred site. Fourth, the night of the thirteenth (jūsan-ya): the principal deity of the moon-waiting congregation that waits for the "later moon" of the 13th of the ninth month by the old calendar is also Ākāśagarbha. In what order these four "13s" arose, and how they influenced one another, cannot be determined from the primary sources. Behind them lies a group of scriptures that hold Ākāśagarbha to be "the bodhisattva of wisdom and memory." These are practices of memory bound to the gumonji method (gumonji-hō) and to the morning star (myōjō). Hōrin-ji transmits that the monk Dōshō, in the sixth year of Tenchō (829), cultivated the gumonji method for a hundred days, and that at the dawn of fulfilling the vow the morning star descended and he realized Ākāśagarbha; it sets that ennichi on the 13th. The gumonji method, the morning star, and the 13th coexist within a single story. However, the "time of a solar or lunar eclipse" in the text of the gumonji method is the season for confirming attainment after completing a million recitations of the spell, not something that fixes the calendar date of the 13th. Thus one can say neither that "the 13th derives from the gumonji method" nor that it is "unrelated."
Wisdom kings
Fudō Myōō
The 28th
Thirty hidden buddhas
In the ten buddhas of abstinence the principal buddha of the 28th was Amitābha. In the thirty buddha-names (the thirty hidden buddhas), on the other hand, Mahāvairocana is placed on the 28th, and Fudō Myōō, his manifestation, is bound to the 28th. The assignment of Fudō to the 28th appears in a Japanese treatise (Shōgei Shōnin's *Nizōgi kenmon*). In the Edo period, when the worldly benefits of the homa were widely sought, it became firmly established as "Fudō's day." What the scriptures guarantee extends only to the 28th being a day of abstinence and to Fudō being the manifestation of Mahāvairocana.
Aizen Myōō
The 26th
Thirty hidden buddhas
Moon-waiting
Aizen Myōō (Rāgarāja) is the wisdom king who turns desire itself into awakening, cherished as the principal deity of matchmaking and harmony. The ennichi of the 26th is deeply bound to his being the principal deity of the twenty-sixth night (nijūroku-ya) of moon-waiting. The twenty-sixth night vigil (nijūroku-ya machi), in which one waits for the thinned crescent of the late moon that rises in the dead of the 26th by the lunar calendar and venerates its light, was widely held on the seashores of Takanawa and Shinagawa in Edo, and it was told that in the moonlight there appeared the three deities Amitābha, Kannon, and Seishi, or else that Aizen Myōō appeared. In the thirty hidden buddhas too Aizen is assigned to the 26th.
Devas
Myōken Bodhisattva
The 1st
Thirty hidden buddhas
The stars
Myōken Bodhisattva (Myōken Bosatsu) is a deity that deifies the pole star and the Big Dipper, held to be the most excellent of all the stars, to guard the realm and remove calamity. He was devoutly worshipped by the warrior houses, especially the Chiba clan. In the current assignment of the thirty buddha-names (the thirty hidden buddhas) Myōken is placed on the 1st, and the 1st of the month is held to be his ennichi. There is also a tradition placing it on the 15th of the full moon (the Myōken congregation).
King Yama
The 16th
The ten kings
Days of abstinence
This is held to be the great day of abstinence on which "the lid of the cauldron of hell opens." Yama presides over the fifth judgment among the ten kings, and his original ground is, in the Chinese text, Samantabhadra-rāja Tathāgata (in Japan, by the theory of original grounds and manifest traces (honji suijaku), the theory identifying him with Jizō spread).
Kangiten (Shōten)
The 1st and the 16th
Custom
Kangiten (Kangiten), also called Shōten, is an esoteric deva-deity depicted as two elephant-headed figures, male and female, embracing in a dual-bodied (sōshin) form. He was originally a deity of obstruction (shōge) who hindered people's progress, but it is told that Kannon Bodhisattva took the same form and drew close to him, leading him into harmony. From this account he is held to be a deity who grants, with particular force, worldly wishes such as harmony between husband and wife, the granting of children, and prosperity in business, and his original ground is Mahāvairocana. Because his efficacy is strong, the rites too are strict, and as a hidden deity who shows no form he is reverently venerated by the oil-bathing offering (yokuyu-ku), in which a monk pours warmed sesame oil over the image. He is devoutly worshipped in Shingon as well, and his ennichi is held to be the 1st or the 16th.
Kishimojin
The 8th, 18th, and 28th
Custom
Kishimojin (Hārītī) was originally a demoness who seized and devoured the children of others, but when Śākyamuni hid her youngest child and she came to know the grief of losing a child, she repented and became a deity who guards safe childbearing and the rearing of children. In the "Chapter on Dhāraṇī" of the Lotus Sutra she vows to guard those who keep the sutra. She is worshipped on the 8th, 18th, and 28th at Zōshigaya and elsewhere.
Mahākāla (Daikokuten)
The day of the Wood Rat (kinoe-ne)
Sexagenary cycle
Mahākāla (Daikokuten) was originally Mahākāla, the great dark deity of India, a fierce deity governing war, wealth, and the underworld. In the temples of China and Japan he was worshipped as the deity governing the kitchen and food (on Mount Hiei it is told that Dengyō Daishi Saichō enshrined him), and in time he came to be widely cherished as a deity of good fortune, riding on rice bales and bearing the mallet of fortune (uchide no kozuchi) and a great sack. In Japan, because the sound "daikoku" carries over, he was identified with Ōkuninushi no Mikoto and became one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. Because the rat (the Rat) is his messenger, the day of the Wood Rat (kinoe-ne) in the twelve branches is held to be his ennichi, and the Wood Rat vigil (kinoe-ne machi), in which one stayed up until midnight to worship, was held.
Bishamonten
The day of the Tiger (tora)
Sexagenary cycle
Bishamonten (Vaiśravaṇa) guards the north as one of the Four Heavenly Kings (Tamonten) and is a deity who grants fortune in war and in wealth. He is also cherished as one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. From the account that Prince Shōtoku realized him in the year, day, and hour of the Tiger at Mount Shigi (Shigisan), the day of the Tiger became his ennichi. The tiger is his messenger.
Benzaiten
The days of the Snake and the Earth Snake
Sexagenary cycle
Benzaiten (Sarasvatī) presides over music, eloquence, and the arts, and is cherished as a goddess who later also brings fortune in wealth, depicted holding a biwa. She is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. Because the snake is her messenger and manifestation, the day of the Snake in the twelve branches, and above all the day of the Earth Snake (tsuchinoto-mi) that comes once every sixty days, is held to be her ennichi. The link with the snake comes from a syncretism in Japan.
Marishiten
The day of the Boar (i)
Sexagenary cycle
She is a deity whose form riding a boar is explicitly stated in the scriptures. This iconography became the basis for making the day of the Boar in the twelve branches Marishiten's ennichi. Among the sexagenary lineage, she alone has explicit iconographic statement in the scriptures.
Inari (Ḍākinī, Dakiniten)
The day of the Horse and the first Horse
Sexagenary cycle
Inari (Inari) is a familiar devotion praying for abundant harvests and prosperity in business, taking the fox as the deity's messenger. In Buddhism it was identified with the Ḍākinī (Dakiniten). By the shrine record that holds the day the deity of Fushimi Inari descended to be the first Horse day (hatsu-uma) of the 2nd month of Wadō 4 (711), the day of the Horse, and the first Horse in particular, became its ennichi.
Blue-Faced Vajra (Shōmen Kongō)
The day of the Metal Monkey
Sexagenary cycle
Daoism
Blue-Faced Vajra (Shōmen Kongō) is a deity with a blue body and a wrathful aspect who wards off plague and calamity. He was worshipped as the principal deity of the Metal Monkey vigil (kōshin machi), based on the Daoist theory of the three corpse-worms (sanshi). On the night of the Metal Monkey (kanoe-saru), to prevent the three corpse-worms within the body from escaping and reporting one's sins to heaven, people passed the night without sleep, once every sixty days. The three monkeys of "see not, speak not, hear not" and the Metal Monkey steles (kōshin-tō) that remain in many places are vestiges of this devotion.
Founding masters and kami (deriving from memorial days)
Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai)
The 21st
Memorial day
His entry into meditation (nyūjō) was on the 21st of the third month of Jōwa 2 (835). With the Miei-ku begun by the Archbishop Kangen of Tō-ji in Engi 10 (910), the monthly memorial day the 21st became the ennichi. It is the most firmly established memorial-day ennichi in the Shingon lineage.
Tenjin (Sugawara no Michizane)
The 25th
Memorial day
Tenjin (Tenjin) is the enshrinement of Lord Sugawara no Michizane, cherished as the deity of learning. Lord Michizane, who departed this world in exile though innocent, was later revered by the people as Tenjin. Both his birth and his death are held to fall on the 25th, and so the 25th is his ennichi. He is enshrined at Kitano Tenmangū and Dazaifu Tenmangū, and takes the plum as his sign.
Hōnen Shōnin
The 25th
Memorial day
Hōnen Shōnin (Hōnen Shōnin) is the monk who founded the Jōdo school, expounding the exclusive nenbutsu (senju nenbutsu) of simply reciting "Namu Amida Butsu." His passing was on the 25th of the first month of Kenryaku 2 (1212), and the monthly memorial day the 25th became his ennichi. On the same 25th the ennichi of Tenjin coincides.
Shinran Shōnin
The 28th and the 16th
Memorial day
Shinran Shōnin (Shinran Shōnin) is the monk who inherited Hōnen Shōnin's teaching and expounded the path of simply trusting in the salvation of Amitābha, later revered as the founder of the Jōdo Shinshū. His passing was on the 28th of the 11th month of Kōchō 2 (1262), and this, together with January 16 by conversion to the new calendar, is transmitted as his monthly memorial day. The Hōonkō, which commemorates the memorial day, is held.
Nichiren Shōnin
The 13th
Memorial day
Nichiren Shōnin (Nichiren Shōnin) is the monk who founded the Nichiren school, expounding the recitation of the daimoku "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō." His passing was on the 13th of the 10th month of Kōan 5 (1282), and the monthly memorial day the 13th is his ennichi. Around the memorial day the Oeshiki, which commemorates the departed founding master, is held.
Prince Shōtoku
The 22nd
Memorial day
Prince Shōtoku (Shōtoku Taishi) is a statesman of ancient Japan and a founder of devotion, said to have deeply revered Buddhism, to have established the Seventeen-Article Constitution, and to have built Shitennō-ji and Hōryū-ji. He was later devoutly admired by the people, and devotion to the Prince spread. His memorial day is held to be the 22nd of the 2nd month of Suiko 30 (622) (the *Tenjukoku Shūchō*), and as the Prince's memorial (taishi-ki) at Shitennō-ji and Hōryū-ji, the 22nd is his ennichi.
Ganzan Daishi (Ryōgen)
The 3rd
Memorial day
Ganzan Daishi (Ryōgen) is the eminent Tendai monk who rebuilt the declining Mount Hiei, known as the founder of fortune-slips and as the Daishi who wards off misfortune. The talisman of the "Horned Daishi" (tsuno-daishi), said to depict the form of a demon, is still pasted at the doorways of houses as a charm against evil. His memorial day is the 3rd of the first month of Eikan 3 (985), and the 3rd of each month is his ennichi. January 3 is the first Daishi of the year in the Tendai lineage.
Conclusion
What the numbers tell
佛法中、日無好惡
In the Buddha's Dharma there is no good or ill in a day (*Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom*, fascicle 13).
We have traced the numbers of the ennichi along the five lineages, back to the original passages of the scriptures, and confirmed them one deity at a time for each of the principal buddhas. These numbers are indeed related to Buddhism, but the form of the relation is not a single one. The days of abstinence are the oldest stratum, beginning with the uposatha and rooted deeply in the scriptures; the ten buddhas of abstinence are the stratum that assigned a buddha to each day; the thirty hidden buddhas are the stratum of custom that spread from China to Japan; the sexagenary cycle and moon-waiting are each a stratum of devotion to the calendar and to the moon; and the ennichi of founding masters and kami are a separate category deriving from memorial days.
Jizō on the 24th is the deity most deeply confirmed by the scriptures; Fudō on the 28th is the deity overlaid as the manifestation of Mahāvairocana in the soil of Japan; the Daishi on the 21st is an ennichi of a separate lineage deriving from a memorial day. All lie within the same Buddhist endeavor, yet their origins and their certainty each differ.
To restrain oneself and accumulate good on a fixed day is an expedient means for guiding people toward the good, not because there is fortune, good or ill, in a day itself. The ennichi is the trace of an endeavor to form a bond with a buddha, an expedient means carried on for a thousand years. Please, on the day near you, quietly bring your palms together.
With palms joined
Byodoji (the Twenty-Second Sacred Site of the Eighty-Eight Sacred Sites of Shikoku)
