YUIITSU SHINTO

'Unique, peerless shinto'. Also known asYoshidaShinto, Urabe Shinto (Urabe was the former name of the Yoshida clan) or genpon sogen Shinto (fundamental source Shinto). It was a monastic Shinto lineage of the Yoshida priestly clan who were advisors to the imperial household. A Yoshida influence can be traced back to their role in thejingikanin theHeianperiod, but the yui-itsu tradition was really founded and systematised byYoshida, Kanetomo(1435-1511). It incorporated Taoist, Confucian and particularly Buddhist (especiallyryobu Shinto) elements such as aShingon-type distinction between 'exoteric' Shinto (based on theNihongiandKojiki) and 'esoteric' Shinto (revealed only through secret texts transmitted in the Yoshida family; see Shinto Gobusho). Yui-itsu Shinto was successfully developed by Kanetomo's successor,Yoshida, Kanemigiand remained influential until the early nineteenth century when it came to be overtaken bykokugakuandfukko Shintoideas.