ABSTRACT
This woman had “a pact with the devil!” declared Fróis, who was devastated by the magic of an old priestess of esoteric mountain Buddhism.1 Jezebel patronized this esoteric branch of Shingon (True Word), one of the oldest schools of the Japanese Shinto-Buddhism, in addition to her patronage of Hachiman. The first half of this chapter explores Jezebel’s connection to Kumano bikuni of this specific strand of the Shingon school and their support of disadvantaged women. The second half examines the phenomena of spirit possession, the role of healer miko also connected to the mountain religion, and the Jesuit imagination of witchcraft.
