"Buddhist Rainmaking in Early Japan: The Dragon King and the Ritual Careers of Esoteric Monks."

Brian O. Ruppert

"Buddhist Rainmaking in Early Japan: The Dragon King and the Ritual Careers of Esoteric Monks."

History of Religions 42, no. 2 (2002): 143-74

This study, through focusing on the development of Buddhist rainmaking rites in the Heian era (794-1185), analyzes the efforts of esoteric Buddhist monks to improve their relations with the sovereign and aristocrats of the Japanese court through performing rain prayer and producing literatures attesting to their abilities. As will be shown, these clerics did so through promoting aristocrats belief in the existence and powers of Buddhist dragon kings, which were especially associated with grottoes and ponds. Drawing upon the native belief in the power of dragons as well as the precedent set by the Buddhist dragon of Mount Murō, they attempted to convince aristocrats of the special relationship of clerics with these dragon kings and consequent ritual ability to influence the production of rain.

2002