WATARAI, IEYUKI

(1256-1356/62?) A priest of the Outer Shrine (geku) of Ise Jingu during the troubled period of the Northern and Southern courts. He was a close friend of Kitabatake, Chikafusa and active supporter of his attempts, while based at Ise, to establish the ascendancy of the southern court. Ieyuki worked to provide a theoretical justification for the 'Watarai Shinto' argument, set out in the Shinto gobusho, an ostensibly ancient esoteric document recently produced by members of his family line, that the Outer Shrine at Ise was superior to the Inner. His most influential work for the Southern court was a compendium of medieval Shinto knowledge called Ruiju jingi hongen (1320). He adopted elements of Confucianism and Buddhism to put in final form the teachings of Watarai or Ise shinto.