Within Ryōbu Shintō, esoteric mudras and mantras function as the inner technical core of ritual, drawn from Shingon Buddhism yet directed toward the veneration of kami. Mudras, the codified hand seals, and mantras, the sacred syllables and phrases, are used to invoke deities who are understood as both Buddhist figures and Shinto kami, especially where a kami is regarded as a manifestation of a cosmic Buddha. By employing the mudras and mantras associated with a particular Buddhist deity while addressing a kami, the rite enacts the doctrine that kami and buddhas are not separate beings but different expressions of a single sacred reality. In this way, the physical gestures and vocalized sounds become a concrete enactment of non-duality, where visible and invisible realms, Shinto and Buddhism, body and mind, are ritually harmonized.

These esoteric techniques also serve to consecrate and purify. Through the performance of specific hand seals and the recitation of mantras, the ritual space, the offerings, and the officiant’s own body are symbolically transformed, prepared to host the presence of the kami-buddha. The priest, having “Buddha-ized” the body through these practices, stands as an effective mediator, capable of channeling spiritual energy and directing it toward particular aims such as protection, healing, or prosperity. Mantras shape the sonic environment of the rite, creating a field of sacred vibration, while mudras “seal” and stabilize the presence that has been invoked in mirrors, icons, or natural sites.

At the same time, mudras and mantras are woven discreetly into the familiar fabric of shrine worship. Outwardly, rites may resemble conventional Shinto ceremonies, with offerings, purification, and norito prayers, yet beneath this visible layer the officiant silently performs esoteric hand seals and recitations. This hidden dimension turns the ritual into a hybrid act in which Shinto forms are animated by Buddhist esoteric content. The result is a liturgical bridge: practitioners honor the kami in traditional ways while simultaneously accessing the salvific power and cosmology of esoteric Buddhism.

Ultimately, these practices give ritual expression to Ryōbu Shintō’s vision that the many deities are facets of a single, all-encompassing sacred ground. Mudras embody the principle that bodily action can manifest spiritual truth, while mantras articulate the unity that underlies apparent religious difference. Through their combined use, the practitioner does not merely think about the harmony of kami and buddhas but participates in it, allowing that unity to be enacted in gesture, sound, and shared sacred space.