This dissertation examines the diary-record of five pilgrimages to Mt. Koya made by the imperial abbot of Ninnaji, Kakuho Hoshinno between 1147 and 1150 C.E. It places the diary, pilgrimages and Mt. Koya in the context of the first half of the Insei period ("rule by retired emperors") of late Heian and early Kamakura Japan. By a close reading of the text, it looks behind the seemingly straightforward recounting of journeys, ritual performances, offerings, participants and donations to see a skillful negotiator and wielder of influence among contending groups on the mountain and in the capital. As perhaps the most highly placed imperial prince and monastic of the time and acting as official representative of Senior Retired Emperor Toba on the five pilgrimages to Mt. Koya recorded in the diary, Kakuho employed pilgrimage, ritual, interpersonal relationship and gift to restore working cooperation among the various stakeholders.; Kakuho was the fourth son of the Late Retired Emperor Shirakawa. Following his father's leadership example, he successfully used material resources, religio-cultural capital and personal authority to influence and mediate among the monastics of Mt. Koya's Kongobuji temple-shrine complex, the Daidenboin-Mitsugon'in sub-complex, support staff, unaffiliated monastics and other practitioners. Kakuho's record of the pilgrimages detailed the expenditure of this capital and the skilled use of his influence to incorporate the contending parties in the common effort of supporting the welfare of the imperial state, beginning with Senior Retired Emperor Toba.; This diary is the single most extensive contemporaneous document that sheds light onto the place and function of the early examples of "monastic imperial princes" (hoshinno). Building on this aspect of Kakuho's position, this dissertation examines and interprets what the diary records.
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