Ryōbu Shinto

In the Shingon school of Buddhism, the name for the syncretic coexistence of Shinto and Buddhism (see Japanese religions). Ryōbu Shinto and the other syncretic forms were banned 1868-1945 in favour of the new State Shinto.

The amalgamation of Shinto and Buddhism was officially instituted by the ritsuryō imperial edicts of the 7th and 8th centuries. The general term for the identification of Shinto kami with Buddhas and bodhisattvas is honji-suijaku. The theological basis of Ryōbu Shinto lies in the writings of the Buddhist monk Gyōgi (670-749) and the Shingon founder Kūkai, also known as Kōbō Daishi, (774-835). The Tendai school's founder Saichō, or Dengyō Daishi, (767-822) also wrote on this subject, and the Tendai synthesis of Buddhism and Shinto is called Sannō-ichijitsu-Shinto.

In Ryōbu Shinto, the sun goddess Amaterasu is identified with the Buddha Dainichi Nyorai; in the Tendai version, the Shinto kami of Mount Hiei are identified with various manifestations of the Buddha. Conversely, some Shinto shrines adopted Tantric Buddhist practices. Shinto kami guard Buddhist temples and vice versa.