Japan's medieval culture of secrecy -- Secrets, secrecy, and the study of religions -- The Problem of secrecy in Indian Tantric Buddhism -- Myth and secrecy in Tang-period Tantric Buddhism -- Japan's medieval culture of secrecy -- Secrecy in Japanese esoteric Buddhism -- Reconsidering the taxonomy of the "esoteric" -- Knowing vs. owning a secret -- Secrecy, sex and apocrypha -- Esotericism in noh commentaries and plays -- The elephant in the room -- Myths, rites, and Icons -- Two modes of secrecy -- The demise of secrecy -- When secrecy ends -- Hiding the shoguns -- "Esoteric" and "public"