The is a ceremony held each year at certain Buddhist temples in Japan. The name comes from its observance in the second month of the lunisolar calendar

Lunisolar calendar

A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. If the solar year is defined as a tropical year then a lunisolar calendar will give an indication of the season; if it is taken as a sidereal year then the calendar will...

. Today, the service is usually held in either February or March, depending on temples.

One of the popularly known Shuni-e is the one at Tōdai-ji

Todai-ji

, is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall , the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu . The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the ...

 in Nara

Nara, Nara

is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...

, held between March 1st and the morning of March 15. This article describes below the details of the Shuni-e held at Tōdai-ji

Todai-ji

, is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall , the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu . The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the ...

.

The Tōdai-ji Shuni-e ceremony was originally started by Jitchū

Jitchū

was a Buddhist monk in Nara Japan of the Kegon sect, and pupil of Roben. In his later years, Jitchu oversaw the expansion of Todaiji temple, and introduced liturgy and rituals still used today. The most noteworthy of these ceremonies is the Shuni-e repentance ceremony established by Jitchu at the...

, a monk of the Kegon

Kegon

Kegon is the name of the Japanese transmission of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism.Huayan studies were founded in Japan when, in 736, the scholar-priest Rōben originally a monk of the Hossō tradition invited Shinshō to give lectures on the Avatamsaka Sutra at...

 school, as a devotion and confession to the Bodhisattva Kannon（Skt

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

: Avalokiteśvara). It has continued every year since 752, though it was held at a different site until the Nigatsu-dō

Nigatsu-do

Nigatsu-dō is one of the important structures of Tōdai-ji, a temple in Nara, Japan. Nigatsu-dō is located to the east of the Great Buddha Hall, on the hillside of Mount Wakakusa. It includes several other buildings in addition to the specific hall named Nigatsu-dō, thus comprising its own...

 was completed in 772. The ceremony is also known as Omizutori

Omizutori

Omizutori , or the annual, sacred Water-Drawing festival, is a Japanese Buddhist festival that takes place in the Nigatsu-dō of Tōdai-ji, Nara, Japan. The festival is the final rite in observance of the two week-long Shuni-e ceremony. This ceremony is to cleanse the people of their sins as well as...

 (お水取り), the name of its climactic ritual.

The ceremony actually comprises an array of ceremonies centered around repentance to the Bodhisattva Kannon and prayers for the welfare of society. Two of the best known ceremonies of the Shuni-e are the Fire Ceremony (otaimatsu in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

) and the Omizutori

Omizutori

Omizutori , or the annual, sacred Water-Drawing festival, is a Japanese Buddhist festival that takes place in the Nigatsu-dō of Tōdai-ji, Nara, Japan. The festival is the final rite in observance of the two week-long Shuni-e ceremony. This ceremony is to cleanse the people of their sins as well as...

, or "Water Ceremony".

Origin

The origins of the Tōdai-ji Shuni-e ceremony are unclear, but an illustrated text in 1586 cites a legend surrounding the monk Jitchū. According to the story, Jitchū wandered into a cave in the year 751, and the cave led him to the Buddhist heaven realm of Tushita

Tushita

' or Tusita is one of the six deva-worlds of the Kāmadhātu, located between the Yāma heaven and the heaven. Like the other heavens, is said to be reachable through meditation...

 (Tosotsuten in Japanese). There, in the cave, he observed 49 shrines of devotion to various Buddhist figures, and heavenly beings (see deva

Deva (Buddhism)

A deva in Buddhism is one of many different types of non-human beings who share the characteristics of being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in general, living more contentedly than the average human being....

) frantically running between shrines over and over to pay obeisances and offerings. One particularly grand shrine was devoted to the Bodhisattva Kannon, in his eleven-faced form, crowded with beings taking part in a grand repentance ritual.

Jitchū was so moved by the ceremony, he asked one of the heavenly beings if he could take part, but was refused because time in Tushita Heaven is much faster than on Earth. According to the being, one day in Tushita would be equivalent to 400 years.

However, Jitchū resolved to reproduce the ceremony anyways, and after further adventures, establishes the Shuni-e rite, devoted to the 11-faced form of Kannon Bodhisattva.

Sources show that the Empress Dowager, Kōmyō, was a devout patroness of Jitchū, and she originally allowed the use of her administrative office to perform the rite. When she died later, and her office was abolished, Jitchū moved the rite to the current location of the Nigatsu-dō

Nigatsu-do

Nigatsu-dō is one of the important structures of Tōdai-ji, a temple in Nara, Japan. Nigatsu-dō is located to the east of the Great Buddha Hall, on the hillside of Mount Wakakusa. It includes several other buildings in addition to the specific hall named Nigatsu-dō, thus comprising its own...

 Hall in the temple of Todai-ji

Todai-ji

, is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall , the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu . The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the ...

 in Nara

Nara, Nara

is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...

, Japan. The liturgy and ceremony remains largely unchanged during this time.

Repentance Ceremony

The core repentance ritual of the Shuni-e, closed to the public, is performed by a select group of eleven monks called rengyōshū, who engage in a repentance session six times a day:

1. late evening (shoya)
2. midnight (yahan)
3. after midnight (goya)
4. dawn (jinjo)
5. midday (nitchu)
6. dusk (nichimotsu)

In each session, the monks gather in the central worship hall (naijin) before the altar of the eleven-faced Kannon Bodhisattva. The shoya, or late evening session, is the longest, comprising 3 hours. The liturgy and format of all sessions is based on the Buddhist text, the Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Heart Dharani Sutra

Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Heart Dharani Sutra

The is a Buddhist text first translated from Sanskrit into Chinese on the 28th day of the third lunar month of 656 CE, by Xuanzang. The title in Tibetan language is Spyan-ras-gzigs-dbang-phyug-shal bcu-gcig-pa, while the Sanskrit title recovered from the Tibetan translation is...

.

All sessions consist of the following format:

• Repentance.
• Invocation of the Bodhisattva's name.
• Invocation of the dharani
  Dharani
  A ' is a type of ritual speech similar to a mantra. The terms dharani and satheesh may be seen as synonyms, although they are normally used in distinct contexts....
  
  from the sutra above.
• Vows to strive to benefit all beings.

The recitation of the Bodhisattva's name comes from this verse of the Dharani Sutra above:

The Fire Ceremony

Every night, ten select believers (eleven on March 12) shoulder large pine torches as long as 8 meters and weighing as much as 80 kilograms. Girded with swords and staves, the torch-bearers climb a flight of stairs and run along the balcony of the Nigatsu-dō, showering sparks on the public below. It is thought that these sacred sparks will protect the recipient from evil. The monks also chant, perform ritual circumambulation, and wave swords to ward off evil spirits.

The Water Ceremony

Underneath the Nigatsu-dō is the Wakasa Well, from which, according to legend, water springs forth only once a year. After the final night of the Fire Ceremony, the monks gather water from the well around 2am by torchlight, after which the water is offered to Kannon and to the general public. It is popularly believed that this water, being sacred, can cure ailments. The water from the well is actually gathered into two pots, one containing water from the previous year, and another containing water from all previous observances of the ceremony.