狐宗, Kitsune sō, Fox Buddhism

Kitsune (狐宗, Kitsune-sō), Sakura Buddhism, or, as it is more commonly called, Mutō Buddhism is a Mahayana Buddhist school established in Japan in the year 1649 by the monk named Masato Mutō. The Kitsune school would never rise to great prominence, however it had effects on the much bigger schools, and overall would have an effect still today. However, political entanglements during, as many of the teachings were or could be seen as political, and this is a result of the creator being a political figure and ruler himself. The teachings however do state that they should not get involved in politics. Kitsune is unique in the sense that it is almost entirely exclusive to Japan. It holds that the Tipitika is the most important teaching of the Buddha, and that it should be held in the highest regard. Unlike many mahayana schools the Kitsune school uses the Sīla vows instead of the Bodhisattva Precepts. An emphasis is put on all living things having a Buddha nature as well, and that each individual's approach to enlightenment will be different.

History

Details are scarce on Masato's origin, however throughout his entire life he claimed to be a Kitsune, hence why it is called as such. In 'The Sakura Sutra' It is said that in the spring of 1576 Takeshi and Masato met and fought one another, the battle was said to have lasted days before the two settled on a truce. Masato was interested in Takeshi, and would ask to be his apprentice, Takeshi obliges and teaches Masato about Buddhism. Masato would then go onto take his teachings and the two would part ways in 1583, occasionally visiting each other. He would then go onto achieve enlightenment under a Sakura tree on 1648 using Takeshi's teachings, and afterwards he would then go onto teach the world of what Takeshi taught him. We have no reason to doubt Masato's story, as it was confirmed by Kiyoshi that Masato and Takeshi met on many occasions. The validity of the claim that he is a kitsune is, as expectedly, disputed however many of his followers swear by the validity of the claim. Masato was not confirmed dead ever, but simply dissapeared in 1652

Growth and Development after Masato

Much like Masato, no other monk or person in the sect would make any serious attempts to spread it. It remains to this day a small sect of Buddhism, one of the last survivors of its era.

Kitsune Doctrine

Kitsune doctrine has several philosophical insights which allow the buddhist doctrine to reconcile with the Shinto beliefs and traditional aesthetics. It is rooted in the Theravada idea of self determination, and the Zen and Mahayana idea that all things have a buddha nature. Kitsune Doctrine would borrow almost everything much from Theravada schools, however deviate slightly in the sense that it believed in the Shinto gods. The ultimate expression of Dharma (Buddhist law) is the Tipitika. Kitsune doctrine states that none of the other schools are wrong as well, which lead to it becoming a backseat to the other big denominations in Japan. In addition to buddhist teachings, monks were generally also taught Taoist, Confucianist, and other beliefs leading it to be a wash of different beliefs One interesting outlier in Kitsune doctrine is that the monks in addition to adhering to the vows are all required to train in martial arts and weapons handling, and heavily encouraged to join military, police, or some similar occupation, and many Kitsune Buddhist monks go onto participate in martial arts and combat sports. Their temples famously always had a shooting range, and communities would build themselves around their temples as they were easy and quality protection. Adherents to Kitsune Buddhism, while not required, are heavily encouraged to serve in the military and practice martial arts and weapons handling. In the past this meant that many Kitsune Buddhists were also Samurai or became them. In 2014 a study showed that 28% of the current military were practicing kitsune buddhists.

13% of Japanese Buddhists say that they are Kitsune Buddhists.

Type

Religious, Sect

Divines