御嶽教 · おんたけきょう · sects_organizations

Ontakekyō

A mountain-ascetic Shintō sect (recognised 1882) centred on the worship of Mt Ontake in central Japan.

Definition

Codified from the eighteenth-century lay confraternities (Ontake-kō) organised by ascetics Kakumei (Mochinoki) and Fukan (Hirakawa) who opened Mt Ontake to ordinary pilgrims. Ontakekyō practitioners undertake misogi at sacred springs, climb the mountain in white robes (shiro-shōzoku), and perform reigaku trance rites in which kami of the deceased (rei-jin) speak through a medium (nakaza) to a questioner (maeza). One of the Thirteen Sects since 1882.

Etymology

Ontake (the mountain) + kyō