Military priest - Jyugunso

Japanese: 従軍僧 - じゅうぐんそう

A monk who accompanies a military journey, that is, a Jinso. The practice of accompanying monks on battlefields has existed since ancient times, but this tendency became particularly prominent during the period of the Northern and Southern Courts civil war. Typical examples are Monkan, the head priest of Toji Temple, who always served Emperor Go-Daigo, and Kenshun, the head priest of Daigoji Temple, who often accompanied Ashikaga Takauji on his military journeys. They were leading esoteric Buddhist monks at the time, and served the emperor and the shogun, performing goma prayers to eliminate rebels and bring peace to the world while on military journeys. In this sense, they were prayer monks who prayed for worldly benefits. On the other hand, they were also political monks who made use of their secular connections as aristocrats to devise strategies and political strategies while on military journeys, as Kenshun did when he brought an imperial edict from the retired Emperor Kogon to Takauji, who was fleeing west to Kyushu, giving him a just cause for raising an army.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

軍旅に従う僧侶，すなわち陣僧のこと。戦陣に僧侶をともなうことは古くからあったが，とくに南北朝内乱期からこの傾向が著しくなった。後醍醐天皇につねに近侍した東寺長者の文観（もんかん），しばしば足利尊氏の軍旅に従った醍醐寺座主の賢俊はその典型である。彼らは当時一流の密教僧で，天皇や将軍に近侍して軍旅のまにまに逆徒退治，天下静謐（せいひつ）など護摩祈禱を修した。この意味では現世利益を祈念する祈禱僧である。そして他方，九州に西走する尊氏のもとに，賢俊が光厳上皇の院宣をもたらして尊氏の挙兵に大義名分を与えたように，彼らは貴族出身という俗縁を生かして，軍旅にありながら戦略，政略をたてる政僧でもあった。

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

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