This page is in English.

Fushidansekkyo-theme Pages News - my personal remarks in Japanese News - my personal remarks in English My Published Papers (1998 and 2001) in Japanese tr. My Published Papers in English Fushidansekkyo Written Material (Macaronic) Fushidansekkyo Audio Video Material in Japanese Fushidansekkyo Audio Video Material in English My Master's Thesis (1996) in Japanese tr. My Master's Thesis in English My Notes and Bibliography in Japanese tr. My Notes and Bibliography in English Good Websites to Visit (Macaronic) Glossary of Japanese Words and Names in English Macaronic: Both English letters and Japanese characters as Text are on the same page. (Without a font - get garbled) The following are additional and epexegetical pages: Fushidansekkyo and Performing Arts in Japanese Fushidansekkyo and Performing Arts in English Lyrics with Japanese translation (Macaronic) Lyrics of some of Gospel songs in English Spirituals and "Exodus" in Japanese Please note that: 1. The right side menu shows the content of both this "Glossary of Frequent Japanese Words and Names" page and the Chronology page as an adjunct to the content of this Glossary. By clicking on each linked title or word, you will jump to the place where each description starts either on this Glossary page or on the Chronology page. 2. Whenever I find an English term which seems to be more appropriately equivalent to a Japanese term and an English expression which seems to capture the essential semantic content of a Japanese expression or to convey it, I will rewrite the place. 3. Supplementary explanations enclosed with brackets [ ] in the quoted text are by me, which were not described by the author in his or her original article that I quoted from. 4. I translate the Japanese titles of reference papers and books into English and write them down, enclosing them with brackets [ ]. But, when there is an author-specified or author-supplied English title for his or her Japanese article or book, I write that English title by the author as it is without brackets. 5. Japanese personal names in Japanese characters displayed as a GIF image are shown in accordance with the Japanese word order for names, that is, the last name and the first name. For example, although the name "Shiren Kokan" is written in the order of the first name and the last name in the text, yet the name "Kokan, Shiren " is shown in the order of the last name and the first name in Japanese characters. 6. The accounts are described in varying degrees of detail, depending on the question that is asked in the note I have received (and, occasionally, because of my interest in the subject). Frequent Japanese Words and Names on Fushidansekkyo-theme pages are: A:Ado wo Utsu,Agui,Ai,Aibetsuriku,Amida Butsu,Anjin. B:Biwa Hoshi,Buppo. C:Choken. D:Dai Muryoju kyo,Dan,Dengyo Daishi,Do Nyu Wa Go Kai,Dosai. E:Eko,Etoki. F:Fushi,Fushidansekkyo. G:Ganmon,Geino,Genkoshakusho,Gobunsho,"Gosho no Ichidaiji,"Gyakushu,Gyokuyo. H:Hachiman Daibosatsu,Hayasu,Higan,Hiyu Innen Dan,Ho,Ho Gei Ichinyo,Hogo,Hoin,Honen,Hongan,Hongwan,Hyobyaku. I:Ikko Senju. J:Jizai,Jodomon. K:Kagura,Kaidanbanashi,Kami,Kan,Kanezane Kujo,Kanno Doko,Kannon,Katarimono,Ki,Kokan,Koo,Kotodama,Koza,Ku,Ku,Kumano Bikuni,Kurikara Ryuo. L:None. M:Matsuri,Meigetsuki,Mida Hongan Shiso,Mon soku Shin,Mon Po,Muge,Mujo,Myoho,Myokonin. N:Na Mu A Mi Da Butsu,Nanto Hokurei,Narisukeoki,Nembutsu,Niga Byakudo,Ninjobanashi,Nosetsu,"Nyo Ze Ga Mon." O:Obo,Ofumi,Ondobo,Ondogyo. P:None. Q:None. R:Renni,Rennyo,Rennyo's Rokuji Shaku,Rokkakudo,Rokudo (Rikudo),Ryu,Ryujin. S:Seikaku,Seisuisho,Sekkyo,Sekkyobushi,Senchaku Hongan Nembutsu Shu,Senjaku Hongwan Nembutsu Shu,Sensu,Shiguzeigan,Shin,Shinjin,Shinran,Shonin,Shonin,Sonpibunmyaku,Shugendo. T:"Tasuke tamae to tanomu (Tasuke tamahe to tanomu),"Togoku with a map. U:Uke Nembutsu,Utaimono. V:None. W:Wasan. X:None. Y:Yogoto. Z:Zasu,Zendo. The Chronology page contains: • An Abbreviated Chronological Table of Kamakura Period • Simplified border maps of the old provinces • The term "Togoku" with a map as given above • Names of the months in luni-solar terms

The following terms, insofar as used in the text on the Fushidansekkyo-theme pages of www.hdever.com, shall have the following meanings. I will gradually add more Japanese words to this Glossary given below.

On the Fushidansekkyo-theme pages, I have here and there left Japanese words untranslated into English and just written them down with alphabetizing their pronunciations (in romaji), for I have not yet find good English terms that seem to be exact translations of the Japanese words. I made this Glossary page because I received several inquiries as to such alphabetized (romanized) Japanese words.
If there is, among those Japanese words which are being used on the Fushidansekkyo-theme pages, a Japanese word that you need to know how to write it in Japanese characters, please write a note to me. I will provide an answer regarding the Japanese word. Please let me know whether you could receive a reply containing a Japanese text or not. When a Japanese font is not installed in the system of your personal computer, I will send you that Japanese word as a JPEG image attached to a reply. Alternatively, I can add the Japanese word onto this Glossary page. So, please specify a way of answering to your question. (August 19, 2006 Hitomi)  About Me

Some of the Frequent Japanese Words and Names Appearing on the Fushidansekkyo-theme Pages

A

• Ado wo Utsu - To make an off-the-cuff and supportive response in accordance with speaker's phrasing.
• Agui - Although Choken who set out the origin that is called Agui ryu propagandism and his son Seikaku who perfected Agui school are mentioned whenever the studies touched upon Japanese propagandistic sermon are published, yet it is regarded that there have not still been those which could trace their antecedents in-depth. (See Chapter I. - 2. The Process and Influence of Agui-ism in an English translation of my master's thesis)
  • Choken (1126-1203) - Choken was the grand master of the genre in Japanese Buddhist sermon, who appeared between the closing days of the Heian period and the earliest-Kamakura period. (See An Abbreviated Chronological Table of Kamakura Period)
    Father of Choken is Shonagon Michinori Fujiwara who was a councilor of state that was known as Shinzei nyudo ["entering the Way"; one who has shaved his head and entered the Buddhist way] as well as a sorcerer (yin-yang diviner) at Imperial court in the Heian period (Onyoke [Onyauke] ) that played a crucial role in Hogen Disturbance (1156) and Heiji Insurrection (1159). Choken was the seventh son of Michinori.
    Choken had initially been learning Confucian studies as his family science, but he renounced the world and went to Mount Hiei and learned Tendai Buddhism.
  • Seikaku (1167-1235) - Seikaku was referred to as the "Father of Sekkyo Nembutsu Gi (sermon nembutsu doctrine)" or the "founder of homiletics" in Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo Sangoku Busso Den). (See An Abbreviated Chronological Table of Kamakura Period)
    Seikaku was the third son of Choken. Choken's oratorical endowment and his surpassing techniques for preaching were inherited by Seikaku. Seikaku who studied under Seigen of the Chikurinbo on Mount Hiei and learned the orthodoxy is said to have had superior quality, though he excelled in literary work, especially in sermonic work. Embracing "Preaching is the path to the Pure Land," Seikaku after he had come into Honen's Jodomon [the Pure Land path] had a calling to preach, and through preaching established his fame also in Japanese Buddhist dogmatics.
• Aibetsuriku - One of the eight kinds of suffering (Jp. Ku), the agony of separation from the loved.
  The eight kinds of suffering: 1. birth, 2. old age, 3. sickness, 4. death, 5. the suffering of parting from loved ones and being bereaved of loved ones, 6. the suffering of encountering and having to be with those whom one hates and resents (Jp. Onzoeku), 7. the suffering of not getting what one seeks and wants (Jp. Gufutokuku), and 8. the suffering of an unremitting agitation and frenzy, whether materially or spiritually, arising from one's being a "living being" (Jp. Goonjoku) with the five aggregates, namely, 1. matter, or form, 2. perception, 3. conception, 4. volition, and 5. consciousness.
  • Ai - Love, Affection, Lust. Undefiled love. Attachment to one's existence. Egoistic desire.
  • Ku - Suffering, Pain. Affliction; trial; anxiety; worry; trouble; strain; anguish.
• Amida Butsu - Amida Buddha, Amitabha Tathagata .
  All the terms, "Amida ," "Amida Nyorai," "Amitabha (Amitbha)," "Amitayus (Amityus)," "Mida ," "Nyorai ," and "Tathagata (Tathgata)," insofar as used in the text of English translation of my published papers (1998 and 2001) and master's thesis (1996) on the Fushidansekkyo-theme pages of www.hdever.com, refer to Amida Buddha.
  • Amida - Amida is the name of the Buddha who resides in the Pure Land, from the Sanskrit amita ("infinite"), which stands for Amitabha ("Infinite Light") and Amitayus ("Infinite Life"). According to Dai Muryoju kyo, Amida had been a king. But he met the Buddha Lokesvararaja ("World-sovereign King," Sejizaio), and he abdicated his throne and became a mendicant called Dharmakara ("Storehouse of the Dharma," Hozo ). When Dharmakara was performing the Bodhisattva practices under Lokesvararaja Buddha, he resolved to save all sentient beings and made Forty-eight Vows. After inconceivable kalpas of cultivation and practices, his vows were fulfilled and he became a Buddha by this name. His land is called Sukhavati ("the Land of Ultimate Bliss"), which is also known as the Pure Land, a Paradise in the West. The name Amitabha ("Infinite Light") symbolizes, it is said, his infinite wisdom, while the name Amitayus ("Infinite Life") symbolizes his infinite compassion.
  • Nyorai - Tathagata, "Thus-come." One of the ten epithets of the Buddha. It is popularly construed as "one who has come from Thusness (Skt. tathata)."
    In Pure Land Buddhism it refers to either Amida Buddha or Sakyamuni Buddha.
• Anjin - Settled Heart.
  This term "Anjin" has been variously translated as "settled heart," "settled mind," "assurance," "firm belief," "mind-at-rest," and "faith."
  Shinjin [True Entrusting, Faith, Heart of Faith] is in some contexts called Anjin in Shin Buddhism, as in the case of introducing the conception of Anjin to interpret Shinran's term for faith, Shinjin.

B

• Biwa Hoshi - A blind biwa-playing minstrel.
  Biwa hoshi is the name for the blind performers who recite the "Tale of the Heike" and play the biwa [Japanese lute] at the same time.
  Referring to Shogo Watanabe's Geinobunkashi Jiten —Chusei hen, that blind men carry biwa lutes is classically-observed in Japan. Although blind men were originally considered to possess the specific ability of being able to interact with the spirits of the dead, they at some point found themselves attached to Buddhist temples, where they learned and mastered the religious music, and engaged in the propagandistic activities of a Buddhist order on the road with purifying a kitchen stove as a religious ceremony and telling a story that would solace the spirit of the dead. As "biwa hoshi" finds mention in the entry on July 18, 985 in the diary Ouki (Shoyuki) of Sanesuke Fujiwara (957-1046), the essay Shin Sarugakuki by Akihira Fujiwara (989-1066), the novel Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu, etc., it is determined that from at least the 10th century onward, there were those blind men carrying biwa lutes in the garb of Buddhist priests who told or recited a katarimono (See Katarimono). And it is said that there were quite a few blind men who worked for the Buddhist order and did entertaining performances on the side, especially around the area of Kyoto. Later, they cooperated and worked with intellectuals of the capital city, Kyoto, in giving the "Tale of the Heike" to the world by starting to tell the story, and eventually made this their primary business. And it was in the 15th century that those biwa hoshis who played Heikyoku were entering in their best performing days. The entry on March 30, 1462 in the diary Hekizan Nichiroku of Daikyoku (1421-1486?), a Zen Buddhist monk of Gosan [the Five Mountains, the five major temples to serve in the highest position of Rinzai Zen Buddhism in Japan], says that there were five or six hundreds of biwa hoshis in Kyoto. Their art by profession being telling the "Tale of the Heike," they were expounding the principle of "Shogyo mujyo (All things are impermanent)," which formed the central theme in their storytelling, with Pure Land Buddhist preaching woven into.
  The section "Biwa Hoshi" by Shogo Watanabe and the section "Moso [Blind Priest]" by Kozo Hattori in Shogo Watanabe ed., Geinobunkashi Jiten —Chusei hen [The Dictionary of Performing Artistic and Cultural History —the Medieval Period Volume] (Japan: Meicho Shuppan, 1991).
• Buppo - The laws of Buddha, the Buddhist law, Buddhist teaching.

D

• Dai Muryoju kyo (Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra) - The Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life or the Larger Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life.
  It is considered one of, or rather, the most important of the three basic canonical texts of Pure Land Buddhism, in which how Dharmakara Bodhisattva (Hozo Bosatsu ) attained Buddhahood and became Amida Buddha, and how he saves sentient beings are fully explained. Or Amida's vows and the Pure Land are recounted and the way of salvation through Faith and the Nembutsu is presented. The title of the Sanskrit text is Sukhavativyuha, "Glorious Adornment of Sukhavati (the Land of Bliss)."
  The other two canons are Kanmuryoju kyo (Amitayur Dhyana Sutra or the Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life Sutra), which presents the Sixteen Contemplations centering upon Amida Buddha and his land, and Amida kyo (Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra or the Amida Sutra), which briefly describes pleasurable aspects of Amida's land in terms of "paradise" as a material expression of Buddhist truth ⁽¹⁾ and mentions that innumerable Buddhas of the six directions praise Amida's virtue and testify to the truth of this sutra, and then explains that one who holds fast to his Name will be born in his land.
  (1) Sho-on Hattori, A Raft From the Other Shore: Honen and the way of Pure Land Buddhism (Japan: Jodo Shu Press, 2000), p. 67.
  cf. Hisao Inagaki tr., Kyogyoshinsho: On Teaching, Practice, Faith, And Enlightenment, Copytext: Taisho Volume 83, Number 2646 (Berkeley, California: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2003). Hisao Inagaki and P. G. O'Neill, A Dictionary Of Japanese Buddhist Terms: Based on References in Japanese Literature, First American Edition (Union City, California: Heian International, Inc., 1989).
• Dengyo Daishi - Saicho (767-822), the founder of Japanese Tendai Buddhism.
  Saicho was born in Omi Province in 767, though another theory suggests that he was born in 766. His childhood name is Hirono . He became a novice at age twelve, and when he was ordained into the priesthood at the age of fourteen or fifteen, his name was changed from Hirono to Saicho. In 785, after his acceptance of the precepts at Todai Temple in Nara, he entered into Mount Hiei and built a hut, where he chanted sutras including (focusing on) the Lotus Sutra and studied, in particular, Chinese Tien-tai (Tendai) scriptures. Three years later, he converted the hut into a temple and called it Hieizan-ji, to which he later gave the name "Ichijo Shikan In" [A "temple of the One Vehicle and the Tranquility and Contemplation on the truth"].
  In 804, he went to China by a ship used on a Japanese mission to Tang Dynasty China under the Imperial order from Emperor Kanmu. For about nine months before returning home in the ensuing year, he visited Mount Tien-tai and received the Tien-tai teaching from Tao-sui (Dosui ) and Hsing-man (Gyoman ) and the transmission of the Niu-tou (Ox-head, Gozu) Chan (Zen, Skt. Dhyana) from Hsiao-jan (Shonen ). He also went to Yue Zhou (In 1130, its name was changed from Yue Zhou to Shaoxing prefecture) and received Esoteric Initiation (Jp. Kanjo) from Hsun-hsiao (Jungyo ). After he returned home with a number of Tendai-based and Esoteric-based writings from China, he began to propagate the Tendai teaching.
  In 866, Saicho was posthumously conferred the highest of the three higher ranks of the priesthood which came to be used in 864, namely, "Hoin-daikasho-i" (the rank of the Dharma-seal great master), and the name and title of Dengyo Daishi by the Imperial court. Saicho was also called Eizan Daishi, Konpon Daishi and Sange Daishi.
  cf. Hisao Inagaki and P. G. O'Neill, Ibid.
• Do Nyu Wa Go Kai - Being united into one with the ocean water of wisdom.
  It is said that it is ideal to yield in the place of preaching a state of Do Nyu Wa Go Kai in which a person who preach the Dharma and those who hear it are of "one taste" in the presence of the Dharma.
• Dosai (1399-1488) - Dosai and Zenju are the same follower of Rennyo. Dosai was Zenju's initial name.

E

• Eko - Merit-Transference, giving and being given.
  Hisao Inagaki defines what Eko is, in his A Dictionary Of Japanese Buddhist Terms, as follows:
  (quote) I. To transfer one's merit to another. II. To transfer one's merit to buddhahood in order to attain it. (S. II-7.) III. To transfer the merit of chanting of a sutra, etc., to a dead man so that he may rest in peace and happiness. (K. 680.) IV. To transfer one's merit to the attainment of birth in Amida's* land. V. Refers to ekomon*. (Ma. 263.) (end quote)
  Hisao Inagaki and P. G. O'Neill, op. cit., pp. 43-44.
• Etoki - Etoki is audiovisual religious education.
  Masahiko Hayashi defines what Etoki is, in his English article "On 'Etoki' in Japan" in Etoki Mangekyo [Etoki Kaleidoscope], as follows:
  (quote) What we call "Etoki" in Japan is a special form of sermon in which a reciter—speaker, narrator—uses narrative paintings such as "Mandara"—a picture of the Buddhas, "Nehan-zu"—a picture of the death of the Buddhas, "Engi-e"—a picture of the origin of a certain temple or shrine. Adding these paintings, the reciter makes use of picturized legends about virtuous priests and heroes. (The word "etoki" sometimes means the reciter himself.) To define it briefly, the "Etoki" is audiovisual religious education. Listening to what the reciter says, you can enjoy a series of narrative paintings which the reciter holds up before your eyes. (end quote)
  Masahiko Hayashi ed., Etoki Mangekyo (Japan: San-Ichi Shobo, 1993), p. 249.

F

• Fushidansekkyo - Literally speaking, Preaching with Fushi.
  • Fushi - Tune, Tone, Cadence, Melody, Key (including a certain intonation that is musical enough to have a "key").
  • Dan - Talking, Telling. A talk; spoken words; a story; a tale; an account.
  • Sekkyo - Preaching, Sermon.
  1. Fushidansekkyo in a historic conception in the history of Japanese Buddhist preaching.
  It is accepted that Seikaku of the Agui laid the foundations for giving a sermon of which form has the essence of performing arts diverged from the aristocratic expression of the faith, what we call Fushidansekkyo. With a view to talking right to the senses in the raw of the people and appealing to their emotions, the performing artistic expressiveness was valued, and the musical attributes were introduced by adding a tune and rhythm to the sermon. In a restricted sense, the term "Fushidansekkyo" is the proper name (noun) of preaching in this traditional line handed down specifically from Shin Buddhist priests to Shin Buddhist priests.
  cf. Kazuo Sekiyama, Sekkyo no Rekishiteki Kenkyu [The Historical Study of Preaching] (Japan: Hozokan, 1973).
  2. Fushidansekkyo in a generic conception as "Preaching of Pathos."
  The Fushidansekkyo-theme pages on www.hdever.com are specific about it. Please see them. (You will see not only the material which I committed to paper, but also the audio and video material, if you would like to.)
  [Fushidansekkyo Audio Video Material
  These are audio video material files as to the preacher of the Shin Buddhism in Japan, the Reverend Shonen Sobue.
  - Fushidansekkyo Audio Video Material Main Page in English
  A2-1: About Tune [Cadence] (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)
  A2-2: About his first preaching at the age of 8 (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)
  A2-3: "Nothing is left if Amida Buddha is taken away from me." (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)
  A1: About the frame of mind when he decided to be a "preacher" that shepherds the people (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)
  A3-3: About the "beautiful voice," the narrative power and the tune (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)
  S1: Fushidansekkyo from "Shinran Shonin den": Resting his head on a stone in the snow (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)
  S2: Fushidansekkyo from "Shinran Shonin den": Refusing to receive his own son Zenran (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)
  S3: Fushidansekkyo from "Shinran Shonin den": Mountain priest Bennen O my heart was changed forever (.mov, .rm, .aif, .mp3)]

G

• Ganmon - A statement or prayer composed by the organizer of a Buddhist service.
• Geino or - Japanese folk performing arts, Japanese performing arts.
  Geino are considered to be those which have become performing arts after what primordially did not assume any form of performing arts had become "behavioral traditions" in the course of the actions being recurring, and had been performing-artified. For example, as seen in the development of "Mai [Japanese Dance, which is Japanese whirling-motion-based dancing as a rough generalization]" (Mai differs from Odori [Japanese Dance, which is Japanese stomp-based dancing as a rough generalization]), one theory has it, the bodily movements in the peri-possession by a god or a spirit (as a religious phenomenon) and so forth, which were non-conscious and spontaneous movements, gradually came to attain a firmness in consciousness and became intentional ones (including imitative acts), and started giving form to a folk performing art in the end. Although there are those which were further developed into "Geijutsu (fine art, high performing arts)" from "folk art (folk performing arts)," yet they are not Geino, for Geijutsu lose touch with our real "lives," while Geino correspond to our real "lives."
  cf. Orikuchi Shinobu Zenshu 21 Nihon Geino-shi Rokko [The Collected Papers of Shinobu Orikuchi Vol. 21 The Six Lectures on the History of Japanese Performing Arts] (Japan: Chuokoron Sha, 1996), Orikuchi Shinobu Zenshu dai 12 kan (Japan: Chukobunko, 1976), Orikuchi Shinobu Zenshu dai 15 kan (Japan: Chukobunko, 1976) and Yanagita Kunio Zenshu 13 Senzo no Hanashi Nihon no Matsuri Shinto to Minzokugaku hoka [The Collected Papers of Kunio Yanagita Vol. 13 Talk on the Ancestry, Japanese Festival, Shinto and Folklore, etc.] (Japan: Chikumabunko, 1990).
• Genkoshakusho - Genkoshakusho in thirty-volumes is the work of Shiren Kokan (1278-1346). It is accepted that it is the first comprehensive history of Buddhism in Japan, more specifically, it covers a period of about 700 years from the era of Emperor Kinmei (the middle of the 6th century) up until the era of Emperor Godaigo (the early 14th century).
  Shiren Kokan renounced the world at the age of eight and studied under Tansho Tozan (1231-1291) who was the patriarch of Sansho Temple, and was ordained at the age of ten.
  Shiren Kokan was well-versed in Confucianism and Taoism as well as Buddhism, and what is more, was knowledgeable about history and literature. He can be viewed, in terms of the history of literature, as a pioneer of "Gosan Bungaku" or "Gozan Bungaku" [Literature of the Five Mountains] (the Chinese-style poetry by Zen priests of the five major temples to serve in the highest position of Rinzai Zen Buddhism in Japan in the closing days of the Kamakura era and through the Muromachi era).
• Gobunsho - See Ofumi .
• "Gosho no Ichidaiji " - "One great issue of the life to come."
• Gyakushu - Performing in advance.
  The performance of a Buddhist service for a person before he dies. A Buddhist service to commend one's posthumous well-being to Buddha before one's death.
• Gyokuyo - A Journal of Kanezane Kujo .
  The entries in this diary are from 1164 to 1203, telling about the political and social situations of that time in detail as well as about the circumstances and mode of life of the Imperial Palace.

H

• Hachiman Daibosatsu - The Great Bodhisattva Hachiman.
  Hachiman is the deified appellation for the 15th Emperor Ojin , that is say, the name of his "godship." Hachiman, the god of "bow and arrow," or war, ⁽²⁾ was the first Shinto god that was given the title of Daibosatsu as the protector of Buddhism and the guardian of the nation in Shinto-Buddhism (Kami-Buddha) syncretism (or fusion) in 781, and is also regarded as an incarnation of Amida Buddha.
  (2) One theory has it that the belief that considers the god Hachiman as the tutelary god of the Genji (as the chieftain of all the samurai warrior families) was generated from the end of the Heian period onward, and Hachiman has developed the character as god of war.
  • Daibosatsu - A "great Bodhisattva (Bosatsu )"
    "Daibosatsu" can be used to refer to 1. a Bodhisattva who has attained the stage of non-retrogression, and is assured of becoming a Buddha and 2. the god Hachiman as mentioned above.
    "Daibosatsu" is 1. a reverential title for any Bodhisattva and 2. a reverential title for a Buddhist monk of excellent virtue, as is the case for Gyogi (668-749).
    Gyogi, a Hosso priest that was engaged in community work and mission work toward the populace despite the soniryo-enforced ban on preaching Buddhism among the people, was given this title by Emperor Shomu in 749. (Soniryo is the Code for the Buddhist monks and nuns stipulated by the Ritsuryo [the Law and Code System of the Nara and Heian periods]. The role of Buddhist monks was the servant in subordination to the ideology of the Imperial bureaucratic regime and the state system under the Ritsuryo and Buddhist monks were barred by soniryo from going out of temples and preaching among the people.)
  A note: Emperor Ojin as the god Hachiman, with his mother Empress Jingu, is enshrined at the Hachiman shrines around Japan. The god Hachiman is, however, considered to have originally been a local god in Kyushu, more specifically, the Usa region in Kyushu, who had come to develop the character as a protectorate god of the occurrence and casting when the production of copper in the region had become actively pursued in ancient times. Although the oracle of the god Hachiman in 749 on the erection of the giant statue of Buddha at Todai Temple in Nara is noted for Hachiman's exclusive godship, yet one can argue that it is what suggests a connection between Usa's copper and the casting of the Buddha statue, to put it differently, "Usa Hachiman" and the central regime. Given an oracle in 859, Gyokyo (date of birth and death unknown) of Daian Temple (one of the seven big temples in the Southern Capital) invoked the god Hachiman and enshrined the god in a new Hachiman shrine situated on Mount Otoko (Otokoyama) at the southern skirts of the capital, Heian-Kyo, in 860. This Hachiman shrine named "Iwashimizu Hachiman" attracted nobles and the people, and, in this early Heian period, the idea that the god Hachiman is Emperor Ojin has, presumably, become the accepted, prevailing belief, probably because Emperor Ojin was born in Kyushu ("Tsukushi no Kuni" by the archaic place-name).
• Hayasu - To insert an interlude, interjection, to barrack for (to make a supportive response).
  Etymologically speaking, the term "hayasu" means a division and proliferation of the soul, and by doing hayasu the power of the soul is to pervade whole, while Kunio Yanagita gives his views on Hayashi (a vocal accompaniment which calls to a solo ballad singer with certain words) in Japanese folk ballads that he believes that "this started not so much with the phrases of a chant, more appropriately, as with the internal urge." ⁽³⁾
  cf. Kojiro Nakai and Masahiro Nishitsunoi and Haruo Misumi eds., Minzoku Geino Jiten [Fork Performing Arts Dictionary] (Japan: Tokyodo Shuppan, 1981).
  (3) Kunio Yanagita, "Minyo no Ima to Mukashi" [Ballads of Times Now Past], Yanagita Kunio Zenshu [Complete Works of Kunio Yanagita], Vol. 18, (Japan: Chikumabunko, 1990), p. 374.
• Higan - the Other Shore.
  "Higan" means, literally, "that shore" or "the other shore" and, specifically, the other shore of our Saha world which is like a house on fire and in which we must endure suffering, or the other shore of the stream of transmigration. As represented as the "western shore" that exists in the parable of "Two Rivers and a White Path" (See Niga Byakudo) in Chinese Pure Land master Shan-tao's Kangyo sho (Ch. Kuan ching shu, Eng. Commentary on the Meditation Sutra), "that shore" denotes the world of Nirvana. Thus, the term "Higan" refers to "reaching that shore of Nirvana, after leaving this shore of life and death" (Skt. paramita, Jp. tohigan).
  "Higan" also refers to "Higane ," the semiannual Buddhist services held in spring and autumn. Buddhist Temples throughout Japan observe Higane (Higan Service) of seven days —counting three days, to each of which one of the six paramitas is assigned, at each end of the Autumnal Equinox Day designated as the central day as well as the Vernal Equinox Day. Although the implications of the Higan Service derives from the Buddhist scriptures and commentaries and is Buddhist-scripturally motivated, yet it is said that it is common to look upon the Higan Service as a uniquely developed observance in Japan that has been seen neither in India nor in China.
• Hiyu Innen Dan - An allegorical-causal tale.
  • Hiyu - An analogy, an allegory or a parable.
    In a Fushidansekkyo sermon, a preacher expounds the Dharma, for example, through allegories.
  • Innen - A cause and a by-cause or "relation."
    In a Fushidansekkyo sermon, for example, one's present state (then state) is accounted for by a narrative of happenings in the past.
• Ho - 1. The Dharma or Law. Ho is also called Shinri (truth) or Shinnyo (True Thusness, Skt. tathata). 2. The teachings of the Buddha.
  • Shinnyo - The True Thusness. Ultimate reality. True suchness. The state of things as they are.
  A brief (and rough) note about pronunciation: When this single kanji word "ho" becomes the latter part of a two-kanji compound word, the character pronunciation "ho" can be changed either into a Japanese semi-voiced sound (voiceless bilabial plosive) or into a Japanese voiced sound (voiced consonant), such as "po" and "bo." e.g. Mon Po , Obo .
• Ho Gei Ichinyo - Dharma-Art unity.
  Literally speaking, that the "Dharma" and the "Art" become unity, and thereby amount to nothing less than "the Dharma = the Art."
  • Ichinyo - Oneness.
• Hogo - Dharma Word.
• Hoin - The seal of the Dharma.
  1. The basic teaching that distinguishes Buddhism from other teachings. 2. Manual signs used in Esoteric Buddhism. 3. The mark of the ultimate reality or enlightenment. 4. The highest rank among Buddhist priests. Refers to a particular rank of priesthood, "Hoin-daikasho-i (the rank of the Dharma-seal great master)" that is the highest of the three higher ranks of the priesthood which came to be used in 864, corresponding to the older term "Sojo" (Archbishop. The highest grade in the Buddhist hierarchy). The other two ranks were "Hogen-kasho-i " corresponding to "Sozu" (the second highest grade in the Buddhist hierarchy, below Sojo and above Risshi) and "Hokkyo-shonin-i " corresponding to "Risshi" (Superintendent. The third highest grade in the Buddhist hierarchy, below Sojo and Sozu). 5. Refers to a Buddhist monk who leads an ascetic life in the mountains, such as a Buddhist exorciser or a mountain ascetic, in later times. 6. A title of honor that is given to Buddhist sculptors, painters, poets, etc. in later times.
• Honen (1133-1212) - The founder of Jodo shu of Pure Land Budhism. (See An Abbreviated Chronological Table of Kamakura Period)
  Honen was born in Mimasaka, today's Okayama Prefecture, in April, 1133. His childhood name is Seishimaru . Father of Honen is Tokikuni Uruma who was a local official that secured public order in command of the warriors (appointment title: Oryoshi ).
  In 1150, at the age of eighteen, Honen, who was not satisfied with Tendai Buddhism that he had learned, came to study under Jigem-bo Eiku in the Kurodani valley of the western section of Mount Hiei. By Eiku, Honen was named Honen-bo Genku —"Gen" was derived from the name of Honen's first master Jiho-bo Genko in the north valley of the western section of Mount Hiei and "Ku" from the name of Eiku .
  Honen is one of the distinguished figures in the history of Pure Land Buddhism. Having chosen the Pure Land Path and taken refuge in Amida Buddha, Honen made the pioneering move of establishing the exclusive practice of the Single-Minded Recitation of the Nembutsu (Senju Nembutsu ), and that this sparked a revolution in Buddhist practice in Japan. ⁽⁴⁾
  Before Honen, it is true, the Nembutsu had been practiced in the southern capital and the northern mountain (Nanto Hokurei). Specifically, on Mount Hiei, there had been the Nembutsu of the Tendai Pure Land tradition. Genshin [the Master of Shuryogon-in] (942-1017) wrote Ojoyoshu (the Collection on the Essentials for Birth), which, albeit it clarified the Eighteenth Vow as the special vow of all special vows ⁽⁵⁾ and shed light on the Nembutsu as Fundamental (the Nembutsu is the essential way of salvation), and laid the foundation for Japanese Pure Land teaching, was from the perspective that the meditative Nembutsu accompanied by visualization of Amida Buddha and the Pure Land came before and was above the Nembutsu consisted in the recitation of the Buddha's Name. In Nara, Yokan [Popularly, Eikan] (1033-1111) wrote Ojojuin (the Ten Causes of Birth in the Pure Land), which focused on the recitation of the Nembutsu, resulting in, what one may call, a "shift" towards a reduced predominance of the visualization of Amida Buddha over the recitation of the Name, or an inversion. And Chingai [also Chinkai] (1092-1152) wrote Ketsujo Ojoshu , which presented the recitation of Amida Buddha's Name as the "right act" for Birth. All stressed the Other-Power of Amida Buddha in their Pure Land teachings and urged the practice of the Nembutsu. But the Nembutsu had only secondary meaning as a concomitant to other Pure Land practices (as one of a variety of methods of salvation presented by the three Pure Land sutras) in that their understanding of the Nembutsu was that which had retained the emphasis on focusing the mind one-pointedly on an object by the Nembutsu so as to "cut off" the Afflictions and achieve samadhi with invoking the principle of the "Void (Skt. sunya or sunyata, Jp. Ku )" or the "True Thusness (Skt. tathata, Jp. Shinnyo )." Thus, "It was Honen that established the Nembutsu [the recitation of the Name] as an absolutely independent practice" ⁽⁶⁾ and as the "act of right assurance."
  (4) Sho-on Hattori, op. cit., the back cover.
  (5) Hisao Inagaki tr., Kyogyoshinsho, op. cit., p. 239.
  (6) Sho-on Hattori, op. cit., p. 9.
  cf. Shuyu Kanaoka, Koyu Tamura, and Akira Suganuma, "Bukkyo [Buddhism]" in Sekai no Shukyo to Kyoten • Sokaisetsu [The Religions of the World and the Canons —The total exegesis] (Japan: Jiyukokumin Sha, 1993).
  A note: The term "Nembutsu " is a two-kanji compound word which consists of "nen " and "butsu ." The term "nen" means "concentrating," "recollecting," "aspiring," and "reciting." The term "butsu" indicates the object of nen and refers to various Buddhas, which may include Buddha's virtues and name. Thus, nembutsu can mean "to concentrate on a Buddha and his virtues," "to recollect the Buddha himself," or "to recite the Buddha's name," and, as just described, can be used to encompass practices as varied as the various type of nembutsu advocated by many Buddhist masters. But the substantial difference should be observed.
• Hongan - The Original Vow (Skt. purva pranidhana) of Amitabha Tathagata in Honen and Jodo Shu.
• Hongwan - The Primal Vow (Skt. purva pranidhana) of Amitabha Tathagata in Shinran and Shin Shu.
  It refers generally to the Forty-eight Vows that the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, who became Amida Buddha, made to save all sentient beings and establish a Pure Land for them, but specifically to the Eighteenth Vow.
• Hyobyaku - A style of Invocation or a pronouncement.

I

• Ikko Senju - Exclusive Recitation, Single-hearted and exclusive practice of the Nembutsu.

J

• Jodomon - The Pure Land gate, the Pure Land path, the Pure Land way, as opposed to another path to enlightenment, that is, Shodomon (the Holy Way gate, the Path of Sages).
  Shodomon is the system of formalized practice leading to enlightment through one's own power, whereas Jodomon is the system of practice and Faith for attaining Birth in the Pure Land through the power of Amida's Primal Vow. This "Jodomon" is regarded as synonymous with "Easy Practice" or "Other Power."

K

• Kagura - Kagura is a notable example of ritual performing arts (shinji geino ) in Japan. Although there are various theories as to the etymology of this word, including a contraction of the term "Kamueragi" and a euphonic change form of the term "kanraku," yet it is considered plausible that the word "kagura" derives from the term "kamukura " used for the deity seat to receive a god (See Kami) that is to come and to be present. According to Minzoku Geino Jiten (Kojiro Nakai and Masahiro Nishitsunoi and Haruo Misumi eds., op. cit., p. 109), in ancient Japanese religious rites, people set up the deity seat to be resided in by a god, and a spiritual medium performed the movements of provoking the god, wearing such a plant (plants) as would be favorable for the descent of the god, as well as holding it (them) in his (or her) hand. The movements principally involved a whirling motion. The spiritual medium kept on whirling round and with everyone barracking for him (or her) and with some people plucking the strings of instruments, and gradually entered into a possessed state, and then uttered a divine message. This mode is considered to be the archetype of kagura. Needless to say, the oldest story that describes the belief within kagura toward the revival or resurgence of life is about the dance performed by a spirit-female named Ame no Uzume in front of a massive rock sealing the entrance to a cave, Ama no Iwato. Uzume danced as a way of aspiring toward the reemergence of the Sun-Godess Amaterasu Omikami (the Heaven Shining Great August Spirit), who was mortified by the rudeness of her brother, an absolutely intractable storm-god, Susano-O-no-Mikoto, and hid herself in the cave.
  [For English names of gods in Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), I referred to Joseph Campbell, The Mask Of God: Oriental Mythology (New York: Arkana, Penguin Books USA Inc., 1991).]
• Kaidanbanashi - A ghost story told by a rakugo performer or the ghost story genre of rakugo.
  According to Kazuo Sekiyama, it was the 1st "Hayashiya Shozo" (1781-1842) in the Edo period who established a ghost story rakugo genre. One of the reasons for kaidanbanashi being a much touted feature is the fact that Buddhism was living among ordinary people in the Edo period, and people's awareness of their sinfulness was heightened. Their pity for those who could not go to Buddhist paradise after their death and fear of that potential failure in afterlife were "real" in people's mind and is, probably, more than today's Japanese can imagine.
  cf. Kazuo Sekiyama, Rakugofuzoku cho [Rakugo-culture book] (Japan: Hakusui Sha, 1985).
  A note: The term "Kaidan" means "Tale about ghosts." Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), also known as "Koizumi Yakumo," spells kaidan k-w-a-i-d-a-n in the title of his book Kwaidan: Stories And Studies Of Strange Things.
• Kami - God or a god, spirit, and deity.
  There are those who come up against the English word "god" used as an equivalent for the Japanese term "kami" referring to the object of worship in religions indigenous to Japan, for they perceive that "kami" and "god" differ in essential nature.
  Japanese Shinto is not of foreign origin and is the central core of religions indigenous to Japan. Gods who appear in Japanese mythology are multitudinous and called "Yaoyorozu no Kami " (literally speaking, "eight million gods").
  Japanese gods can be divided broadly into three categories. They are, basically, 1. "Nature Deities " who are deified natural phenomena and 2. "Life Divines " who are very involved in human life, including occupation gods, and 3. "Man Gods " who are deified men, including both male and female gods and both father and mother gods. Japanese have been in awe of everything that gives form to the natural world (and in gratitude for it), and "Nature Deities" are of ubiquity. Ancient people who viewed all the convulsions of nature and calamities as manifestations of the wrath of these gods had worshipped them as a way of escaping danger and attaining family peace and clan prosperity. Agriculture people have prayed and expressed their ardent wish to these gods, including god of sun, god of wind, god of rain and god of field, in order that they might have god's word on good harvests associated in the main with rice farming. "Life Divines" remain concerned in present-day life and may well be closest to us, such as god of wealth and fortune, god of (good) marriage, god of conception and (easy) birth, god of medicine, god of traffic safety, etc. "Man Gods" are, mostly, deified emperors and heroes and men of saintly character and individuals who met a tragic end.
  cf. Masamichi Abe comp. and ed., Nihon no Kami-sama wo Shiru Jiten [Dictionary of Learning Japanese Gods] (Japan: Nihonbungei Sha, 1993).
  A personal remark: I remember being amazed to learn that an ancient document was found in a shrine of which enshrined deity had been worshipped as a "zenshin (good god)" by people, and thereby the good god has turned out to be a "jashin (evil god)," when a university student. Roughly speaking, there are not a few cases in which Japanese have posthumously elevated a man bearing a grudge to the status of a "god" (the object of worship) and held a festival in an effort to appease the "curse."
• Kanezane Kujo (1149-1207) - A court noble in the early-Kamakura Period.
  Father of Kanezane is Tadamichi Fujiwara (1097-1164) who was a courtier in the late-Heian Period and became a Prime Minister (then Prime Minister) in the Ritsuryo system and who was a calligrapher whose calligraphic style came to be known as Hosshoji ryu.
  Kanezane is the first father of the Kujo. Jien (1155-1225) who was a priest that became the Master of the Seat of Tendai Buddhism (the head of Tendai Buddhism order) as often as four times is Kanezane's brother. Although Kanezane had held prominent positions such as Regent and Chief Adviser to the Emperor, he fell from power in confrontation with Michichika Tsuchimikado (1149-1202) who was a court noble, and renounced the world and entered Honen's Pure Land path. It was Kanezane who requested Honen to write a book about the Nembutsu, which became the Senchaku Hongan Nembutsu Shu.
• Kanno Doko - "Correspondence between the Buddha's power and man's receptivity" or the state where there is "Correspondence between the Buddha's power and man's receptivity."
• Kannon - Avalokitesvara ("Lord of Beholding [People of the World]").
  "Kannon" is also spelled "Kwannon." In Japan, Kannon is popularly often worshiped as a female deity.
  Kannon, as the name of a great Bodhisattva who represents Amida's great compassion, is an abbreviation of Kanzeon ("One Who Observes the Sound of the World" [one who hears the cries of the sufferers]); also Kanjizai ("One Who Can Observe Freely"), Kanzejizai, Koseon (Kozeon) , etc. According to Butsuzo Zuten by Ryuken Sawa, Ryusho Tamura [Takateru Tamura], Takashi Hamada, and Shoichi Uehara, although the name "Kannon" refers to "Sho Kannon [Sacred Kannon]" (Skt. Arya-avolokitesvara), which is the most usual of the six forms of Kannon, in Japan when generally used, yet, called "Kanzeon" or "Koseon" in the old translation of scriptures and "Kanjizai" in the new translation of scriptures in the Tang period (618-907), "Sho Kannon" with which we are familiar is not used to refer to it. As Hsuan-chuang [Genjo , Xuan-zang] (600-664) says in the third volume of his Saiikiki [Record of the Western Regions] that "Avalokita is translated as Kan . Isvara is translated as Jizai . Those which are being translated as Koseon or Kanzeon in the old translation are all incorrect," it is contemplated that Kanjizai is the most semantically correct, for it signifies a being who can observe all sentient beings and save them freely as with his observing () all the laws freely and without hindrance (). ⁽⁷⁾
  • Kan - Observing, looking upon, beholding, regarding.
  • Jizai - Freely, at will, with complete control. Being able to do as one desires.
  • Muge - Without hindrance, non-obstruction. Being free from all restrictions.
  (7) Ryuken Sawa ed., Butsuzo Zuten [The Iconographical Dictionary of Images of Buddhas], Enlarged Edition (Japan: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1990), p. 53.
  A note: There are two traditions concerning the six kinds of Kannon who save living beings in the six lower (samsaric) realms (See Rokudo). I. They are 1. Sho Kannon, 2. Senju (Sahasrabhuja, "Thousand-hand"), 3. Bato (Hayagriva, "Horse-crowned"), 4. Juichimen (Ekadasamukha, "Eleven-faced"), 5. Fukukensaku (Amoghapasa, "Unfailing Fishing Line"), and 6. Nyoirin (Cintamani-cakra, "Wish-fulfilling Wheel"). II. They are 1. Daihi ("Great Compassion"), 2. Daiji ("Great Mercy"), 3. Shishimui ("Fearless Lion"), 4. Daiko-fusho ("Universal Illumination of Great Light"), 5. Tennin-jobu ("Hero among Gods and Men"), and 6. Daibon-jinnon ("Great Sacred, Deep Voice").
• Ki - The dormant nature or dormant being. Also, it refers to "man" (a generic term for man as opposed to the Dharma or a Buddha or Bodhisattva).
  More specifically, Ki is the "potentiality" of receiving the teaching or one who is capable of receiving the Dharma and one who is meant for being converted by a Buddha or a Bodhisattva.
• Kokan - An inter-sympathetic response in a religious phenomenal or religious existential experience.
• Koo - A calling and response. Or acting in concert and a concord.
• Kotodama - The power of words, the magic of words, and the numen of the words. Strictly speaking, the power of "words that are being uttered."
  Put most simply, the belief of kotodama is the notion that good words and favorable words will bring good things and happy events, whereas bad words and abhorrent (taboo) words will bring bad things and disasters. That is, what one utters will be actualized and become reality.
  As originally believed by ancient Japanese, it is assumable, an ancient "magic word" was realized as expressed, for the word carried authority stemming from the power of a god that was first to utter that word, or from the fact that it was god's direct word. This belief was, however, diluted by time and they came to believe that this wonder-working realization of the word stemmed from the fact that the word in itself possessed a numen (numinous entity) and the numen did execution. And herein appears the belief of kotodama. (Also see Yogoto on this Glossary page.)
  Masao Fujii touches upon the belief of kotodama from ancient times that had affected future generations in Japanese folk customs and literatures in his Kaimyo no Hanashi [Account of Posthumous Buddhist Name]. He points, as examples of "belief in the word," to the passage from the Holy Bible, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," and to the respect for dharani [Jp. darani] in Esoteric and Tantric Buddhism, which signifies the emphasis on the mysteries of word. He says that it can safely be said that the respect for dharani is a type of kotodama belief in a broad sense. ⁽⁸⁾
  cf. Kunio Toyoda, Nihonjin no Kotodama Shinko [Japanese Traditional Belief in the Power of Words] (Japan: Kodansha Gakujutsubunko, 1980). Orikuchi Shinobu, "Kotodama Shinko" [The Belief in the Power of Words] in Orikuchi Shinobu Zenshu dai 20 kan, Volume of Shinto Religion, (Japan: Chukobunko, 1976).
  (8) Masao Fujii, Kaimyo no Hanashi (Japan: Yoshikawa-Kobunkan, 2006), pp. 84-85.
• Koza - A "raised seat." A dais, pulpit.
  In cases where a Buddhist service or lecture-meeting is given, a "raised seat" is occupied by the leader of the service or the lecture.
• Ku - Void, emptiness. Sunya or sunyata.
  The opposite of U (existence). Roughly speaking, in Hinayana, that "self" is a delusory fabrication and so it should be negated is taught, whereas in Mahayana, that not only "self" but also other existing things are originally void is shown. The principle of Universal Emptiness is expounded in Hannyakyo (the Prajnaparamita literature).
• Kumano Bikuni - A "Buddhist priestess" of Kumano.
  According to Masahiko Hayashi, the Kumano bikuni, who were on the road selling the Kumano amulets and instrumental in teaching and spreading the Kumano faith around Japan, were, by virtue of their offices, called Kanjin bikuni ("the religious educator bikuni") and were also referred to as Etoki bikuni ("the explainer with pictures bikuni") or Uta bikuni ("the singer bikuni"). ⁽⁹⁾ One commonly accepted theory is that Kumano bikuni's original strengths were in fund-raising for the reconstruction or restoration and erection of the structures of three Kumano grand shrines called "Kumano Sanzan," namely, Kumano Hongu Taisha and Kumano Hayatama Taisha and Kumano Nachi Taisha, and as a way of fund-raising, they performed Etoki. Though called "Kumano bikuni" (Bikuni: Skt. bhiksuni, a Buddhist nun), they are viewed as women who were in the garb of Buddhist nuns but had not been through the ceremony of accepting the Buddhist precepts.
  (9) Masahiko Hayashi, "On 'Etoki' in Japan," op. cit., p. 246. Masahiko Hayashi, "Nihon no Etoki," Etoki Kenkyu, II (1984.9), p. 71 (vii).
• Kurikara Ryuo - A Dragon King.
  Kurikara (Skt. Kulikah) Ryuo is a transformed body of the fierce spirit (Skt. vidya-raja) Fudo (Immovable, Skt. Acalanatha, or simply Acala). Fudo is a messenger of Dainichi (great illumination, Skt. Mahavairocana) who is the embodiment of the reality of the universe. Fudo assumes a frightful form, holding a sword in his right hand and a silk rope in his left. The sword of Fudo is called "Ri-ken" and is the symbol of the force, which cuts evil passions and destroys devils. According to the exposition included in To-ji no Myooh-zo (Japan: To-ji Treasure Museum, 1988), Kulikah that was originally a Dragon King has become considered to be a transformed body of the fierce spirit Fudo in a perspective based on the belief that through the efficacy of an invocation of Fudo, this Dragon King would come and provide protection for the invoker. A sword of Fudo with Kurikara Ryuo twined around it is called "Kurikara-ken" and is a Sanmayagyo (a form of Samaya) of Fudo, or a symbol of Fudo, which presents the four meanings given in Esoteric Buddhism, that is, "Equality (Jp. Byodo)," "the Original Vow (Jp. Honzei)" of the Buddha, "Removing hindrances (Jp. Josho)," and "Awakening (Jp. Kyokaku)." It is said that Kurikara Ryuo has seven spines on his back and a single horn on his forehead and his momentum is like thunder and lightning and enwinds a sword with his four legs and writes Aji (the first sound, "A," in the Sanskrit alphabet, that is believed to embody the mystic truth in Esoteric Buddhism) on the sword.

M

• Matsuri - Japanese Festival.
  The underlying pattern is, I should say, (1) to usher in a god, (2) to entertain the god, (3) to receive the blessing of the god and (4) to send the god back to where he came (descended) from.
  Haruo Misumi describes what Matsuri is and argue over human actions ("behavioral traditions") in Matsuri, in his "Shimotsuki Matsuri —Kamigami ga Tsukuru 'Toki' to 'Jiku'—" ["Shimotsuki Festival: 'Time' and 'Space' that Gods Create"] in Shizen to Bunka 21 —Kodai Saishi no Jiku— [Nature and Culture 21: The Time-Space of the Ancient Festivals], as follows:
  (quote/tr.) Needless to say, matsuri is that which is held from the desire of people to make their lives more rich and secure by gaining possession of the mystic force or consciousness and thinking of a certain numinous entity, which is considered to reside essentially in the unseeable, spiritual world and to have diverse effects, good and evil, on human life, through a kokan and interaction with it. The space of matsuri is a place for an invisible spirit and visible man to come into contact with one another and exchange amenities. With the view of realizing the encounter of the two, people had a spiritual medium who had an extraordinary sensitivity and imaginative faculty act as a go-between and fall into an ecstasy or trance, and tried to see a state of the unity of spirit and man with their own eyes. (end quote/tr.)
  Haruo Misumi, "Shimotsuki Matsuri —Kamigami ga Tsukuru 'Toki' to 'Jiku'—," Shizen to Bunka 21 —Kodai Saishi no Jiku— (Nihon National Trust, summer, 1988), p. 18.
  (quote/tr.) I have argued in my "Kododensho tositeno Minzoku Geino" ["Folk Performing Arts As Behavioral Traditions"] (the article published in Matsuri to Geino no Kenkyu) that human actions in matsuri differ from those of everyday life and are, as it were, extraordinary, sacred acts in a sacred space where a god and man stand and join together which was created after having once broken the day-to-day life. The core actions are, first of all, to assimilate and transform into a god, that is to say, "Assimilation (Transforming) Acts ," and, as I have also said, "Simulation Acts " which express the desire for what one wishes to be and what he wishes to see or reproduce god's deeds and events that had made the glory of one's land or a page of the history of his land and family, "Invocation Acts " which demonstrate the art of prayer and incantation [as magical intercessions] and of divination, and "Competition Acts " which a man and a man or a group and a group vie with each other in their skills for whether to have the good fortune or misfortune. I should add that the first assimilation acts are those which are seen in the medium's waza [art, skill] of being possessed by a god as previously mentioned. And in the second simulation acts, the reenactments of divine deeds and events are Sakanbe's Winter Festival [at Suwa Shrine in Sakanbe, Tenryu Village, Nagano Prefecture] and Mayunganashi [an embodiment of one of the "Raiho-shin " (Visiting Gods) appeared in the areas around Mount Omoto on Ishigaki Island, including Kabira and Nakasuji, in Okinawa Prefecture]. (end quote/tr.)
  Haruo Misumi, "Shimotsuki Matsuri —Kamigami ga Tsukuru 'Toki' to 'Jiku'—," Ibid., pp. 22-23.
• Meigetsuki - A Journal of Teika Fujiwara [Sadaie Fujiwara] (1162-1241).
  The entries in this diary which are remaining today are from 1180 to 1235. These can be very valuable to learning not only about Teika's poetics and poems, but also about the political movement and state at Court in those days.
• Mida Hongan Shiso - The thought of the Original Vow of Amida.
• Mon soku Shin - Hearing, that is, Entrusting.
  Mon and Shin are in extremis combined (united) with one another.
  • "Hear" shown in Kyogyoshinsho, Chapter III. Revealing the True Faith: When the Larger Sutra says "hear," it means that sentient beings, having heard how Amida Buddha made and fulfilled the Vow, entertain no doubt. This is what is meant by "hear."
  • "Hearing" shown in Ichinen Tanen Moni [Notes on Once-calling and Many-calling]: "To hear" means to hear the Primal Vow and be free of doubt. Further, it betokens Shinjin [True Entrusting, Faith].
• Mon Po - Hearing the Dharma. (See "Mon Po" or "Mon" of Shinran)
• Mujo - Impermanence (Skt. anitya) or Transience.
• Myoho (1184-1251) - One of the Twenty-four Followers of Shinran. He is the founder of Jogu Temple in Hitachi.
  Myoho originally embraced the ascetic mountain religion of Shugendo and was active as a mountain priest, Bennen, in the eastern region frontier Hitachi.
  He is noted for the anecdote of Mount Itajiki: when a mountain priest being active around Mount Itajiki, Bennen was alarmed by the fact that a number of those local people who had been believers of his magico-religious service were gravitating toward Shinran's teaching. Bennen hated Shinran and sought Shinran's life. But, the moment he faced Shinran, he learned his own wickedness and repented. He sat at Shinran's feet, and became a Nembutsu practitioner, Myoho (Myoho-bo).
• Myokonin - Literary speaking, a "wondrous, excellent person."
  A Nembutsu practitioner of Shin Buddhism whose appreciation and understanding of the teaching is deep and great and whose acts and saying reveal the depth of Faith and true humanity, even though uneducated and impoverished.

N

• Na Mu A Mi Da Butsu - The Name (Myogo ).
  The Name is the manifestation of the Primal Vow of Tathagata, the Ki [dormant nature or dormant being] of entrusting in Amida Buddha, and the Dharma of saving all sentient beings. The Name is also the command of the summoning from Tathagata and the figure of Shinjin [True Entrusting] that is opened up, having heard the command.
  As for the recitation of the Name (Shomyo Nembutsu), refer to Shojun Bando, Mina wo Tonaeru —Kirisutokyo to Bukkyo no Shomyo [The Invocation of the Name: Shomyo in Christianity and Buddhism] (Japan: Nomburu, 1988).
• Nanto Hokurei - The southern capital and the northern mountain. Nara and Mount Hiei. Refers to temples in Nara and Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei.
• Narisukeoki - A Journal of Narisukeo Shirakawa (1184-1224) who was the head of the supreme body for the rites and ceremonies performed at Court and matters of Shinto shrines in the Ritsuryo system.
  The entries in this diary are from 1199 to 1218.
• Niga Byakudo - "Two Rivers and a White Path." A parable by Chinese Pure Land master Shan-tao, which appears in his Kangyo sho (Ch. Kuan ching shu , Eng. Commentary on the Meditation Sutra).
  A traveler, running for his life as he found a gang of robbers and savage beasts being after him on a barren and uninhabited marsh, comes upon two rivers: one is a river of water and the other is a river of fire. They are unfathomed rivers that stretch endlessly to the North and the South. Although each of the two rivers is about a hundred paces across and between them there is a single white pathway about four or five inches wide that extends from the eastern to the western shores, yet the waves of the water river surge over and submerge this narrow white path and the flames of the fire river rise up and sear it without rest. While feeling helpless and terrified with the anticipation of death by drowning, fire, and violence of robbers or beasts, he suddenly hears someone encouraging him and pointing to the West from the eastern bank, "Oh, traveler, resolve to go straight ahead on this path! There will surely not be any pangs of death. If you linger here, you will surely die!" And then he hears someone else calling and beckoning to him from the western shore, "Oh, traveler, single-mindedly and without wavering, come straight forward! I can protect you! Do not fear falling into the water or the fire."
  According to the exposition of Honen in his Senchaku Hongan Nembutsu Shu [The Collection of Passages on the Nembutsu Chosen in the Original Vow]: the marsh corresponds to our being always tempted by evil companions and unable to meet a true and good friend or teacher who leads us to the Buddhist way. The two rivers are compared to the covetousness that floods our hearts and the enmity that flares up in our hearts. Such "tonnai (greed)" and "shinni (anger)" being strong, they are likened to water (surging waves of water) and fire (raging flames of fire). The white path between the two rivers corresponds to the awakening of the pure mind that desires Rebirth even in the midst of our evil passions and afflictions. The good mind being delicate, it is like the white path, which is perpetually submerged by water and seared by fire. Surging waves of water that always lave the white path are like the covetousness that constantly arises to defile our good hearts. Raging flames of fire that ceaselessly burn the white path is like our hearts of hatred and anger that devour the Dharma treasure of merit and virtues. Favored by Sakyamuni Buddha who kindly urges the traveler and turns him in the direction of the West, and blessed with Amida Buddha's compassionate heart which calls out and invites him, the traveler trusts in the intent of the Two Honorable Ones, with taking no notice of the two rivers of water and of fire and remembering without lapse that all sentient beings will unfailingly be saved through the Original Vow, and takes the path of the Vow's power.
  cf. Senchaku Hongan Nembutsu Shu in Shunno Ohashi, Honen Zenshu, Vol. 2 (Japan: Shunju Sha, 1989), pp. 244-249 and in Morris J. Augustine and Tessho Kondo, The Collection of Passages on the Nembutsu Chosen in the Original Vow (Berkeley, California: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1997), pp. 78-82.
• Ninjobanashi - A long rakugo story of which central aim of appreciation is realistic delineation of the characters and the ways of the world or the human-interest story genre of rakugo.
  Ninjobanashi is what rakugo that had started from otoshibanashi which was a short story with the punch line effect came to be constructed as the continuity of a narrative which held a plot and embraced literary elements, while catered to popular tastes, in the wake of the gradual shift from the single goal of making laughter to the objective of reflecting current social conditions, and customs and manners, concentrating on the description of characters, or the subtleties of human nature. Basically, one could argue that so-called otoshibanashi which began with Sakuden Anrakuan (Sakuden of the Anrakuan) during the period from the Azuchi-Momoyama era to the early Edo era takes the form of having the twist (punch line) at the end of a story as the most important thing, whereas ninjobanashi captures audience's imagination not so much by the charm of the twist (punch line) at the end as by the attractions of the plot itself and unexpected plot twists and turns. This ninjobanashi was already the highroad of rakugo and was considered to be the highest state of rakugo in the late Edo period. Accordingly, rakugo performers whose rakugo stories were dominated by the comical otoshibanashi were never called "Dai Shinuchi [great full-fledged master of storytelling]," even though very popular.
  cf. Hiroo Nagai, Sanyutei Encho (Japan: Seiabo, 1962). Susumu Yamamoto, Epitafu The 6th "Ensho" (Japan: Heibon Sha, 1990).
• Nosetsu - Exposition.
  This term "Nosetsu" suggests the preaching side and in some cases implies a Buddha and a Bodhisattva.
• "Nyo Ze Ga Mon" - "Thus have I heard."

O

• Obo - The laws of a king.
  Obo refers to the government by the sovereign and the law to be observed by the king and, concretely speaking, to the law of the land laid down by the king. (Especially in Japan, it has also referred to the "sacred" sovereignty of Emperor, including his divine authority, in the past.) In general, it has been contemplated that this obo is, in the nature of the case, irreconcilable with buppo .
• Ofumi - Rennyo's letter (letters) for Shin Buddhist people that is (are) also called Gobunsho .
  It is believed that it was March (the third month) in 1461 (the second year of Kansho), the year which marked the 200th year memorial service for Shinran, that Rennyo composed his words in the form of a letter for the first time in order to preach the teachings of Shin Buddhism. This very first letter is called "Fude hajime no Ofumi (Gobunsho) " (Jogai:1), in which the cause of Faith and the "heart" of the recitation of the Nembutsu unfold, and that in such a precise and simple way of phrasing as anyone could make out by ear and learn from what one hears.
  A note: Kansho is an imperial era name for the period from 1460 to 1465 under Emperor Gohazono (Ruled: 1429-1464) and Emperor Gotsuchimikad