Komuso - Komuso

A monk who goes from house to house playing the shakuhachi and accepts alms. Their original name was Komo monk or Komo monk, because they traveled around the country, leading a wandering life and carrying straw mats to protect them from the rain and dew. They were also called Boro or Boronji (Bonronshi) because they wore rags when begging. They are also called Fuke monks. The Fuke sect is a branch of Zen Buddhism, founded by the Chinese monk Puke Osho of the Tang dynasty, and is said to have been brought to Japan from the Song dynasty by Hotto Kokushi Kakushin. Kakushin founded Kokokuji Temple in Kii Province (Wakayama Prefecture), and the sect spread and many schools were established.

Famous komuso temples include Myoan-ji in Kyoto, Ichigatsu-ji in Kogane, Shimousa (Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture), and Reiho-ji in Ome, Musashi (Ome City, Tokyo). In the Fuke sect, komuso monks played the shakuhachi with an empty mind, and considered komufuki-dan to be the ultimate state of Zen. In the early modern period, only samurai were allowed to join the sect, and the shogunate granted them privileges such as allowing them to travel freely, but ronin and vagrants used the temples as a way to hide, causing many problems such as violence. The Fuke sect was abolished in 1871 (Meiji 4), and the Myoan Church was established in Kyoto in 1888, but komuso monks left religion and went into hiding, becoming either a means to study the shakuhachi or a way to beg. Though they are called monks, they are half monk, half layman, and most of them have hair, wear deep straw hats called tengai, and wear casual kimono with a kesa and zudabukuro around their necks. They also wear hand protectors and leg warmers. In the past, they wore straw sandals, but from the middle of the Edo period, they began to wear high wooden clogs. Because of their mysterious charm, such as their ability to appear and disappear at will, their skill, and their villainous nature, they often appear as supporting characters in period dramas, both as good guys and bad guys.

[Shoji Inoguchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

尺八を吹きながら家々を回り、托鉢(たくはつ)を受ける僧。薦(こも)僧、菰(こも)僧というのが本来の呼び名で、諸国を行脚(あんぎゃ)して遊行(ゆぎょう)の生活を送り、雨露をしのぐために菰を持ち歩いたからである。ぼろを身にまとって物乞(ものご)いしたので、暮露(ぼろ)とも梵論字(ぼろんじ)（梵論師）ともよばれた。普化(ふけ)僧ともいう。普化宗は禅宗の一派で、中国の唐代の普化和尚(おしょう)を始祖とし、法燈(ほっとう)国師覚心(かくしん)が宋(そう)から日本に伝来したという。覚心は紀伊国（和歌山県）に興国寺を開山し、宗旨も広まり多くの流派ができた。

　虚無僧寺としては、京都の明暗寺、下総(しもうさ)小金(こがね)（千葉県松戸市）の一月寺(いちがつじ)、武蔵(むさし)青梅(おうめ)（東京都青梅市）の鈴法寺(れいほうじ)などが著名であった。普化宗では、心を虚(むな)しくして尺八を吹き、虚無吹断を禅の至境とした。近世初期には武士以外の入宗(にっそう)を認めず、また幕府も自由の旅を許すなどの特典を与えたが、浪人や無頼の徒が身を隠す手段に利用し、乱暴をはたらくなどの弊害が続出した。普化宗は1871年（明治4）に廃宗となり、1888年に京都に明暗教会が設立されたが、虚無僧は宗教から離れ、尺八修業の方便か物乞いの手段かになって影を潜めた。僧とはいいながら半僧半俗で、多くは有髪(うはつ)で、天蓋(てんがい)と称する深編笠(ふかあみがさ)をかぶり、着流しで、首から袈裟(けさ)と頭陀袋(ずだぶくろ)をかけた。手甲(てっこう)・脚絆(きゃはん)なども着けた。古くは草鞋(わらじ)を履いたが、江戸時代の中ごろから高下駄(たかげた)を履くようになった。出没自在、腕のたつこと、無頼性など、不思議な魅力をもつところから、時代劇では善玉としても悪玉としても、しばしば脇役(わきやく)として登場する。

［井之口章次］

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