with divergent doctrines and sometimes antagonistic to one
another.

It became the fashion in Japan to talk of the twelve sects, but the
names given are not always the same.

One of the commonest lists is as follows:[1070]

1. Kusha. 5. Hosso. 9. Jodo.
2. Jo-jitsu. 6. Kegon. 10. Zen.
3. Ritsu-shu or Risshu 7. Tendai. 11. Shin.
4. Sanron. 8. Shingon. 12. Nichiren.

This list is historically correct, but Nos. 1-4 are almost or quite
extinct, and the number twelve is therefore sometimes made up as
follows:

1. Hosso. 5. Yuzu Nembutsu. 9. Obaku.
2. Kegon. 6. Jodo. 10. Shin.
3. Tendai. 7. Rinzai. 11. Nichiren.
4. Shingon. 8. Sodo. 12. Ji.

Here Nos. 7, 8, 9 are subdivisions of the Zen and 5 and 12 are two
small sects.

Taking the first list, we may easily distinguish two classes. The
first eight, called by the Japanese Hasshu, are all old and all
imported from China. They represent the Buddhism of the Nara and
Hei-an periods. The other four all arose after 1170 and were all
remodelled, if not created, in Japan. Chronologically the sects may be
arranged as follows, the dates marking the foundation or introduction
of each:

(i) Seventh century: Sanron, 625; Jo-jitsu, 625; Hosso, 657;
Kusha, 660.
(ii) Eighth century: Kegon, 735; Ritsu, 745.
(iii) Ninth century: Tendai, 805; Shingon, 806.
(iv) Twelfth and thirteenth centuries: Yuzu Nembutsu,
1123; Jodo, 1174; Zen, 1202; Shin, 1224; Nichiren,
1253; Ji, 1275.

All Japanese sects of importance are Mahayanist. The Hinayana is
represented only by the Kusha, Jo-jitsu and Risshu. The two former are
both extinct: the third still numbers a few adherents, but is not
anti-Mahayanist. It merely insists on the importance of discipline.

Though the Hosso and Kegon sects are not extinct, their survival is
due to their monastic possessions rather than to the vitality of their
doctrines, but the great sects of the ninth century, the Tendai and
Shingon, are still flourishing. For some seven hundred years,
especially in the Fujiwara period, they had great influence not only
in art and literature, but in political and even in military matters,
for they maintained large bodies of troops consisting of soldier monks