Traveling ascetic - Kaikoku Shugenja

…They also served as guides for the imperial family and aristocrats on their pilgrimages to Ontake (Mt. Kinpu) and Kumano. In the early Kamakura period, two Shugendo groups were formed in the central area: the Kumano Yamabushi, who were based in Kumano, and the Kaikoku Shugenja, who practiced at Mt. Kinpu and were based in the large temples of Yamato. Of these, the former Kumano Yamabushi, when Zoyo of Miidera became the Kengyo of the Kumano Sanzan, became a Shugendo religious organization called the Honzan sect, with Shogoin as its head temple, by the end of the Kamakura period. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Kaikoku Shugenja" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…また彼らは，皇族や貴族の御嶽詣(金峰山参詣)や熊野詣の先達をつとめもした。　鎌倉時代初期には，中央では熊野を拠点とした熊野山伏，金峰山で修行した大和の諸大寺に依拠した回国修験者の二つの修験集団が形成された。このうち前者の熊野山伏は三井寺の増誉が熊野三山検校になったのを契機として，鎌倉時代末には，聖護院を総本山とする本山派とよばれる修験教団になっていった。…

※「回国修験者」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報