How the kuji arrived in Japan is still a matter of debate. The Korean variant is 臨兵鬥者皆陣列在前行. Some contemporary scholars assert that the kuji arrived in Japan via China through Jōdo-shū and Shugendō around the 8th century, if not much later. Others assert that they were introduced by Korea. As to what the kuji consisted of at the time it arrived in Japan is unknown. The mudras are found in Taoist material as well as in Shugendō. Some have suggested that Shugendō created the mudras that are currently associated with the kuji, as the vast majority of information that is known about the kuji comes from Shugendō literature.