ABSTRACT
The circumstances of Buddhist temples changed now too. New economic wealth in villages combined with the establishment of the early modern family system. Temples and their priests occupied positions of considerable wealth which they derived from the economically improved circumstances of their parishioners. One implication was that temples and priests came to be seen as economic and political oppressors, which led, in turn, to a burgeoning of anti-Buddhist sentiment. One intellectual response to this anti-Buddhism was to be found in the activities of the Shingon
seventh year. The general protocol was for the child to face an auspicious direction, and to have his sponsor tie the belt for him or her before all headed off to the local shrine.
