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Kinship and the Transmission of Religious Charisma: The Case of Honganji

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Michael Solomon
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Abstract

Shinran (1173–1262), the founder of the Shinshu sect of Pure Land, was the first major Buddhist leader in Japan who openly married and produced a family. Unlike the many monks who secretly married, for Shinran marriage was a landmark on what Alfred Bloom has called “the journey to self-acceptance,” and an experience that ultimately became a central feature of the doctrine of universal salvation he preached. Although he sought above all to bridge the gulf between priest and layman and specifically disclaimed any ambition to found a new sect, let alone a religious dynasty, Shinran had nevertheless created the possibility of religious succession based on the hereditary principle.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , May 1974 , pp. 403 - 413
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1974

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References

1 Bloom, Alfred, The Life of Shinran Shōnin: The Journey to Self-Acceptance (Leiden: Brill, E. J., 1968)Google Scholar

2 Particularly influential communities were founded at Takada (Shimotsuke) and Yokosone (Shimosa) by Shimbutsu and Shōshin, respectively.

3 In the feudal society of Kamakura Japan, female succession was highly exceptional. Toshio, Inoue, Honganji (Tokyo: Shibundō, 1966), p. 66.Google Scholar

4 In 1309, at the conclusion of a protracted suecession dispute with his half-brother Yuizen, during which each side had tried to garner the necessary support in the Kantō, Kakunyo undertook a written oath in which he swore to defer in all matters to the Kantō leadership, to whom Kakushin had deeded the proprietorship of Ōtani. It was on the basis of this rather humiliating document that Kakunyo was finally confirmed rusushiki the following year. It goes without saying that, had he adhered to its strict interpretation of Kakushin's bequest, the establishment of an independent Honganji and its emergence as the organizational center of the sect would never have been possible, Ibid, pp. 53–58; Toshihide, Akamatsu and Kazuo, Kasahara, eds., Shinshū-shi gaisetsu (Kyoto:Heirakuji Shoten, 1966), pp. 86–88.Google Scholar

5 Hajime, Nakamura, Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples (Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1964), pp. 484–485.Google Scholar

6 While Shinshū uses the same term for doctrinal lineage, it also has a literal significance not true of other sects. See p. 406.

7 In the Tanni-shō. Shinshū shōgyō zensho, 5 vols. (Kyoto: Kōkyō Shoin, 1963–64), II, 776. Hereafter cited as SSZ.Google Scholar

8 On the Zenran affair, see Shinshū-shi gaisetsu, pp. 70–71.

9 SSZ, II, 774.

10 This claim is made in the Bokii ekptoba, an account of Kakunyo's life and deeds written by his second son, Jūkaku. SSZ, III, 779–780.

11 SSZ, III, 36.

12 This is the assessment of Professor Shigematsu, who asserts that in the nineteenth section Kakunyo attributes to Nyoshin a view reflective of Hōnen rather than Shinran as to why the sinner is the true object of Amida's vow. Shigematsu Akihisa, Kakunyo (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1964), pp. 117–118.

13 SSZ, II, 774.

14 SSZ, III, 9.

15 Ibid

16 Honganji, pp. 66–67.

17 SSZ, III, 659.

18 In this same work the status-conscious Kakunyo, whose grandfather was also a Hino, first put forth the claim that Shinran descended from the aristocratic Hino family. SSZ, III, 639.

19 SSZ, III, 641.

20 Honganji's greatest rival was the Takada branch under the capable leadership of Shin'e, who moved the head temple Senjuji from the Kantō to the province of Isc. In Kyoto itself Bukkōji remained the strong competitor it had been since Kakunyo's time. Although ultimately far eclipsed by Honganji, both the Takada and Bukkōji branches continue to exist today.

21 Shōgan, Inaba, ed., Rennyo shōnin gyōjitsu (Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 1948), pp. 49–50. Hereafter cited as Gyōjitsu. Jitsunyo, who succeeded Rennyo, established an “Inner Council” (ichimon), which was limited to the eldest sons of Rennyo's sons. Unfortunately, data on the total membership of the Ikkeshu after Rennyo are fragmentary.Google Scholar

22 Gyōjitsu, pp. 220–221.

23 Through the intercession of the influential Hosokawa Masamoto, who was a friend of his, Rennyo was spared this extreme measure and allowed simply to admonish the Kaga rebels. Gyōjitsu, p. 123.

24 See, for example, Ofumi Nos. 6, 7, 8, 115,117 and 119, in Shōgan, Inaba, ed., Rennyo shōnin ibun (Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 1937).Google Scholar

25 Toshio, Inoue, Ikkō ikki no Kenkyū (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1968), p. 254.Google Scholar

26 They were Shokōji at Hasadani, Kyōgyōji at Yamada, and Honsenji at Wakamatsu.

27 Gyōjitsii, p. 55.

28 Ibid, p. 57.

29 Inzō, Kamimatsu, ed., ishiyama Honganji nikki-jō (Osaka: Seibundō Shuppan, 1966), p. 492.Google Scholar

30 Despite its understandable bias against the Ikkeshu, the Hompukuji alogaki is an invaluable source not only for the development of Shinshū but also for the life and outlook of the common people (particularly the commercial class) during the Sengoku period. A convenient and fully annotated text can be found in Kazuo, Kasahara and Toshio, Inoue, eds., Rennyo ikkō ikki (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1972), pp. 185–236.Google Scholar

31 Ibid, p. 235.

32 Gyōjitsu, p. 270.

33 Kiyomi, Morioka, “Chūsci makki Honganji kyōdan ni okcru ikkeshu-jō,” Shakaigaku Hyōron, X, 56.Google Scholar

34 Kakunyo's eldest son Zongaku was an outstanding scholar and leader whose contribution to Shinshū has long been recognized; however, for reasons that are the subject of considerable dispute, he was disinherited twice. (There was an eleventh-hour reconciliation between the 81-year-old father and 61-year-old son one year before Kakunyo's death.) As his successor, Kakunyo chose the son (Zennyo) of his second son Jūkaku, who himself made important contributions to the Shinshū canon as author of the Boki ekptoba and compiler of Shinran's letters. Zennyo, only 19 at the time of succession, was assisted by Jūkaku and Zongaku, and the role of the two in the development of Honganji was, if anything, greater than his own. During Shakunyo's tenure, Jūkaku's son and fifth in a line of succession that begins with Shinran and Nyoshin, Honganji made progress in extending its influence in the provinces (notably in the Hokuriku district) and in building up its internal administration. Shakunyo was succeeded in 1394 by Gyōnyo, his second son. Although there is little evidence of strong personal leadership, the influence of Honganji continued to spread. It was during this period, for example, that the practice became common of sending honzon to branch temples in order to cement their ties with Honganji. Gyōnyo's eldest son, Zonnyo, was Rennyo's father. Zonnyo's leadership, which has been favorably reassessed by recent scholars, clearly anticipates that of Rennyo in several particulars, including the widespread copying and sending of honzon and scriptures, emphasis on the more easily understandable scriptures in the Shinshū canon, and face-to-face proselytization on a wide scale by means of extensive tours through the provinces. See Honganji, chap. iii.

35 Jūkaku's succession, mentioned in the preceding note, is an example.

36 Morioka, p. 57.