Agonshū

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Kiriyama Seiyū · 1954 · Japan

What it is

Agonshū (阿含宗) is a Japanese new religious movement founded by Kiriyama Seiyū (1921–2016; born Tsutsumi Masao/Masuo). He founded a Kannon devotional group, the Kannon Jikeikai, in 1954, took the name Kiriyama Seiyū in 1955, and in 1978 reorganised the group as Agonshū, named after the Āgama (Agon)…

Format

• Core rite: goma. A fire rite in which wooden gomagi sticks inscribed with prayers are burned. A monthly goma on the first of each month (tsuitachi) at the Tokyo centre has been broadcast by satellite to regional centres; Reader observed a two-part format, a solemn goma before the relic followed by…
• No source gives a therapy protocol for Agonshū members, and no session counts or durations are sourced. A practical sequence:

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Membership and costs. Joining involves a "small monthly fee" and the purchase of ritual items and a personal altar; higher ranks come through paid training seminars leading to yamabushi status; members are expected to volunteer and to do kanjin (soliciting alms and selling goma sticks). The movement also has a health-food business and a publishing house (Hirakawa Shuppan). Exact current fees are not published in the…
• Agonshū (阿含宗) is a Japanese new religious movement founded by Kiriyama Seiyū (1921–2016; born Tsutsumi Masao/Masuo). He founded a Kannon devotional group, the Kannon Jikeikai, in 1954, took the name Kiriyama Seiyū in 1955, and in 1978 reorganised the group as Agonshū, named after the Āgama (Agon) sutras, which it presents as the Buddha's original teaching and as "complete Buddhism". Its headquarters temple is at…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• The movement's account of how change happens (attributed): misfortune in a person's life is attributed to bad karma (innen) and to spiritual hindrances (reishō) from unhappy or unliberated spirits of the dead, especially neglected ancestors (fujōbutsurei). Ritual, chiefly the goma fire rite and…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the therapist's own bias; client concealment of membership from the therapist. Working signs: the client talks openly about membership.
• spending linked to fear, concealment from family, kanjin quotas that cause strain. Working signs: spending is chosen, known to the client and affordable.
• confidentiality breaches; leaders' and therapist's advice conflicting. Working signs: the client feels supported by both without being pulled between them.
• relatives wanting the therapist to persuade the member to leave; the member feeling ganged up on. Working signs: conversations at home become calmer and more specific.
• guilt-driven spending; prolonged grief; distress when rites seem not to bring peace. Working signs: grief moves; rites, if continued, feel consoling rather than urgent.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.