Within Tendai, the Sanmon branch at Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei leaned heavily into Ryōbu Shintō’s dual‐structure rituals. Enchin’s descendants and later masters folded kami–Buddha identity right into their esoteric liturgies, while figures like Tenkai (though better known via Shingon links) once trained there, helping cross-pollinate rites and commentaries.

On the flip side, the Jimon branch centered at Mii-dera (Onjō-ji) embraced Ryōbu Shintō with its own mountain-ascetic flair. Jimon lineages—especially Ono and En’yū—kept meticulous glossaries merging Engishiki ritual codes with Shintō-Buddhist doctrine. The Ono stream, for example, preserved ritual manuals that wove Sanbō-in esoterica together with Inari or Hachiman worship. Meanwhile the En’yū line produced layered commentaries, tagging Ryōbu deities onto standard Tendai ceremonies.

Both branches never really split from Ryōbu Shintō; they just spotlighted different facets. Sanmon’s high priests often emphasized cosmological unity—Buddha nature and kami as two sides of the same coin—while Jimon’s mountain-based practitioners explored more experiential, ascetic pathways to that same insight.

Even after the Meiji-era shinbutsu bunri, Enryaku-ji preserved key manuscripts, and Mii-dera monks safeguarded ritual scripts in private collections. A recent nod to those efforts: the 2025 Ryōbu Reigen festival at Enryaku-ji, where centuries-dormant chants echoed once more through the cedar groves. By and large, both Sanmon and Jimon, with their subsidiary lineages, carried Ryōbu Shintō forward—showing just how interwoven kami and buddhas remain on Japan’s sacred slopes.