Abstract
The Haguro sect of Shugendo systematizes its ascetic practices on the mountains as a ritual called 'Akinomine', whose aim is to reincarnate 'Shugyosya' (an ascetic practician) as Buddha by way of the symbolic process of death and rebirth. The idiosyncratic idea of 'sounds' of the sect finds its most positive way in these processes. Each sound used in this rirual fulfills its own function ; the regular sounds of the religious instruments handled by the reverend leaders have a power of purification. The disorderly noises made by striking wainscots of the hall or by popping sacred leaves not only consolidate the soul into the 'Shugyosha', who symbolizes an unstable embryo, but also give him viability. At the final stage of the ritual process where only the voices of the 'Shugyosya' sound loudly comes out a special sound-space. It is this sound-space that completes the ritual. Originally, this ritual was practiced at an especial place on the mountain separated from the secular life and its core was being confined there. The sound-space produced by the voices of the 'Shugyosya' reciting sutras together takes over the religious confinement in a sacred place. In such a sound-space the virtue of the sutra materializes in ihe voices and permeates deeply into the 'Shugyosya' themselves. This moment enables the 'Shugyosya' to achieve spiritual transformation.
