'Two-sided' or 'Dual' Shinto. The full name is Ryobu shugo shinto or Daishiryu-shinto. An interpretation of kami beliefs and practices developed in the Kamakura period and maintained by the Shingon school of esoteric Buddhism. It holds that the sun deity Amaterasu enshrined at Ise Jingu is a manifestation (see Gongen, Honji-suijaku) of the Buddha Dainichi ('Great Sun', Sk. Mahavairochana). Through such theories the status of the native kami was raised from 'protectors' of Buddhism to that of beings in need of salvation, and ultimately, through the notion of hongaku or innate enlightenment, to that of living beings potentially equal to the enlightened: A derivative theory which reversed the status of kami and Buddhas was proposed by Yoshida, Kanetomo; see Han-honji-suijaku. Cf. Sanno-ichijitsu-shinto.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.