Kakutan/Origin

{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="article-table" style="width: 660px;"

Origin
Kakutan, or Kakuban, known posthumously as Kōgyō-Daishi was a priest of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan and credited as a reformer, though his efforts also led to a schism between Kogi Shingon-shū and Shingi Shingon-shū. Kakuban is also famous for his introduction of the "esoteric nembutsu". When he was thirty-six, Kakuban took leadership in the revival of the Shingon Sect, by attempting to unify the existing branches of Ono and Hirosawa. Further, he attempted to assert authority of the Shingon sect from Mt. Koya, not the traditional seat at Tō-ji in Nara. Eventually, he gathered an increasing throng of followers and became the chief priest of both the temples Daidenbō-in and Kongōbu-ji. In time, he came to govern the entire religious district of Kōyasan as the chief priest under Imperial decree. This led to animosity from some monks, who called for his expulsion. Kakuban soon resigned from his post as chief priest, and retired to Mitsugon-in.