Mrs. Gaynor Sekimori
Mrs. Gaynor Sekimori was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and graduated
with honours from the Oriental Studies faculty of the Australian National
University, Canberra. She has been a Tokyo resident since 1975, and joined
the ASJ in that year. She received her M.A. degree from Sophia University
in 1990, and is occupied as a translator and scholar of religion, currently
carrying out research into Shugendoh. Her most recently published translation
is "Shapers of Japanese Buddhism" (Kosei Publishing, 1994). In
connection with her present studies she first visited the Shugendoh mountain
of Haguro in 1992, took part in the women's version of "Akinomine"
sponsored for the first time by Dewa Sanzan Jinja in 1993 and in a repetition
in 1994, did the traditional "Akinomine" at the Kohtakuji temple
in 1994, and gained "yamabushi" qualifications. At the Toh'hoh
Gakkai conference last May she read a paper on "Female "yamabushi":
The "Akinomine" of Dewa Sanzan Jinja and "miko shugyoh"".
Adapted from "The Asiatic Society of Japan Bulletin No. 2",
February 1995, compiled by Hugh Wilkinson.
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