Fushidansekkyo Audio Video Material Main Page

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This is Fushidansekkyo Audio Video Material Main Page in English. You will have access to Fushidansekkyo audio material files and video material files on this main page by clicking on the Links, "Listen to this Audio" and "Watch this Video."

The page that the link represents includes an audio material file in AIFF format.
The page that the link represents includes an audio material file in MP3 format.
The page that the link represents includes a video material file in QuickTime Movie format.
The page that the link represents includes a video material file in RealPlayer Media format.

"Fushidansekkyo" in a generic conception as "Preaching of Pathos"

That which emerges in Fushidansekkyo is a kokan [an inter-sympathetic response in a religious phenomenal or religious existential experience]. It is at the core of Fushidansekkyo that is called the "Preaching of Pathos," which is the outpouring of mental and emotional energies of Japanese people at the bottom of human society where agony prevails and which is the fructification of ordinary people's sensitivities and sentiments with their living faith and wish in the background. The history of Fushidansekkyo is, first, the history of popular culture that has not been written in Japanese history. It is, second, the history of people's "ritual" as a manifestation of their hearts and minds insofar as they were able to express them. It is, third, what tells us that people had craved for words and expressions which would reach out to the people themselves, and, in the form meeting this need of theirs, Fushidansekkyo has been elaborated. Such a traditional mechanism of responding leads to a masterly piece of Fushidansekkyo, which is a corporate work or a collaboration by a preacher and the congregation, in an actual place of sermon. It is this missionary work that has saved people and comforted their hearts and minds in the midst of their real lives.

There is not the term "fushidansekkyo" in Christianity. Hence, to construe an evangelization with Gospel music in the Baptist Church as "fushidansekkyo" in Christianity is problematic and may well be subjected to criticism over it from Christians as well as from Buddhists. However, as evidenced by its history, first, Gospel music has been the effusion of mental and emotional energies of the people (the cry of their hearts) who live at the lower end of the social structure and has been the fructification of people's sensitivities and sentiments before a background of their living faith and hope. Second, when I see that among evangelical activities of Christianity it includes the essence of expressiveness and the essence of music and it attaches importance to people's sentiment and that it is the method of propagandism which has been cultivated in the form meeting the needs of the people in America who had craved for words and expressions of their own. In the generic conception of mine, this Gospel mission work, as I conceive it, stands out as another "fushidansekkyo," that is, "Preaching of Pathos."

And it goes without saying that those which constitute the generic conception of "fushidansekkyo" as described above, in the outer side of the measure of the differences in nation and religion, makes an intersectional common set with Fushidansekkyo of Shin Buddhism. Based upon the same generic conception, "fushidansekkyo" in Buddhism is used to refer to Fushidansekkyo of Shin Buddhism.

Note: There were oppressed and discriminated Japanese people who were called "Eta" and by other discriminatory names and the social strata in Japan until the decree of emancipation by the Meiji government in August, 1871. It is truly regrettable that we still find the hidden prejudice in Japan against those who are descendants of the oppressed and discriminated.

The content of Fushidansekkyo Audio Video Material

Material A2-1, A2-2, A2-3, A1, A3-3, S1, S2 and S3 : The Reverend Shonen Sobue
I have selected several scenes as to the preacher of the Shin Buddhism in Japan, the Reverend Shonen Sobue, from an original two hours video Hi8 tape on which I recorded his edification and Fushidansekkyo delivered in the main hall of Yurin Temple (Yurinji), Nagoya, Japan in 1992, and I have made QuickTime Movie (.mov) files, RealPlayer Media (.rm) files and audio (.aif, .mp3) files.

I present what I, an untrained amateur videotape-recording person, recorded on video Hi8 tape in 1992 as material for my study. I have not filtered out background noise, nor have I reduced noise. I have not adjusted audio quality. If you would like to fully appreciate the Reverend Shonen Sobue's Fushidansekkyo, I encourage you to search for commercially available cassette tapes and video tapes produced by audio experts and professional videographers.

Please note that what I have recorded (the Reverend Shonen Sobue's preaching and saying) as the materials for my graduation thesis and my master's thesis and my study are the Reverend Shonen Sobue's Intellectual Property.

• 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)
• U: Additional Audio Material U: Very short audio material files as an example of uke nembutsu (.aif, .mp3)

Audio Video Material files on the Reverend Shonen Sobue's Fushidansekkyo are A2-1, A2-2, A2-3, A1, A3-3, S1, S2 and S3 in the top-to-bottom sorting order of the audio video material list on this main page.

Material G4-1, G4-2, G4-3, G1-1, G1-2, G1-3, M2 and M3 : The Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer
I have selected several scenes as to the pastor of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia, USA, the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer, from original cassette tapes on which I recorded her seminar "The History of Gospel Music" and Mission Work taken place in the Gospel Music Workshop "1996 PACAF WIDE GOSPEL MUSIC WORKSHOP 3 - 8 JUNE 1996 Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, Theme: 'One Voice United In Praise!' Facilitators: Evangelist Barbara Ward-Farmer and Byron Ward," and I have made AIFF (.aif) and MP3 (.mp3) audio files.

For the good reason that "the religious life is purely private," I could not get permission to use a video camera, which would capture the images of the participants, from the US Air Force side's representative of this Gospel Music Workshop. Hence, there is only audio material recorded on cassette tapes by me, an untrained amateur recording person, in 1996 as material for my study. I have not filtered out background noise, nor have I reduced noise. I have not adjusted audio quality. If you would like to fully appreciate the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer's Gospel, I encourage you to search for commercially available CDs produced by audio experts and professional recording people.

Please note that what I have recorded (the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer's preaching and saying) as the materials for my master's thesis and my study are the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer's Intellectual Property.

• G4-1: The first time that music was mentioned in the Bible: Genesis Chapter 31, Verses 26 and 27 (.aif, .mp3)
• G4-2: In a religious context, the first time that music was mentioned in the Bible: Exodus Chapter 15, Verses 1 and 2 (.aif, .mp3)
• G4-3: Singing was the act of communicating with God - Psalms (.aif, .mp3)
• G1-1: The Black experience (.aif, .mp3)
• G1-2: This [Music] belongs to the Lord (.aif, .mp3)
• G1-3: The Father of Gospel Music (.aif, .mp3)
• M2: Gospel Mission Work - with a Japanese Baptist pastor (.aif, .mp3)
• M3: Gospel Mission Work "If God Be For Us!" (.aif, .mp3)

Audio Material files on the Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer's Gospel Music Workshop are G4-1, G4-2, G4-3, G1-1, G1-2, G1-3, M2 and M3 in the top-to-bottom sorting order of the audio video material list on this main page. Jump to G4-1 on this page

There are multimedia-heavy pages which contain multiple audio files. For example, the Link "Listen to this Audio A2-1 MP3 with A2-2 and A2-3 MP3" indicates that there are three MP3 files on the same page.

The Reverend Shonen Sobue, having been accepted such as "Going through all sorts of tribulations, his life is earnestly devoted to preaching," "The legitimate preacher who still carries on Fushidansekkyo, which was traditional in Japanese Buddhisim, in the modern age, his excellent expressiveness with his distinctive beautiful voice has, today, the enormous reputation of the best in Japan," who lived a full life with his mission completed in January, 1996, is a genuine preacher of the Otani branch of the Shin denomination and a distinguished person of religion.

Fushidansekkyo is densely intermingled with the performing-artistic elements, for, with a view to speaking right to the hearts of the people and their senses in the raw, the performing artistic expressiveness was valued, and the musical attributes were introduced, like shomyo, by adding a tune and rhythm to the sermon. It is this missionary work which is lowered and undervalued for being performing-artified that saves people and comforts people's hearts and minds in the midst of people's real lives. We ought not to, however, forget that as the basis for its considerable development and partaking of the nature of performing arts there were the fundamental attitudes towards the edification and underlying ideas of Honen and Shinran, who had to save the people and wished to be saved along with the people, that exhort the teachings of Nembutsu Ojo in their own visceral language, as that which drove Fushidansekkyo or as what was the life of Fushidansekkyo.
(From my master's thesis The Religion of Kokan: On Fushidansekkyo [1996], I. Fushidansekkyo in the Shin Buddhism, Section 1. On Genealogy from Honen to Shinran)

The Pastor Barbara Ward Farmer is a distinguished person of religion as well as an important singer. She began singing at the age of 4, and began singing publicly at the age of 4 and a half. At the age of 11, she was known as Little Barbara Ann Ward. She recorded two songs, "What Do You Think About Jesus?" and "I Am By the Grace of God." Evangelist Barbara Ward-Farmer is the Pastor of the Faith Tabernacle Church of the Living God. Her mother, Lillian Ward was the former pastor and founder of Faith Tabernacle.

It should be no surprise that those who to whom music and song were culturally natural when they were in their Mother Africa, were finding an outlet for their anguish and grief in singing. What might initially have been the songs of "work" were becoming the songs of "faith" after the adaption of the religious impulse which was brought with them from Africa and the accommodation necessary to the "Jesus-faith" had been fermented for a certain time. Wyatt Tee Walker states, "The New World African's accommodation of the slavemaster's religion and the retention of Africanisms produced the Jesus-faith of the antebellum slave which remains identifiable today. That Jesus-faith which was preserved for posterity in the Spirituals served to insulate the antebellum slave from the real temptation of collective suicide. The Negro Spirituals fashioned in the slave warrens of the South provided the foundation which authenticated the Black religious experience."
(From my master's thesis The Religion of Kokan: On Fushidansekkyo [1996], Chapter II. Evangelism in the Baptist Church, Section 2. Spirituals and Current of Gospel Sound. All the written sources are acknowledged in the pertinent section's notes of my master's thesis. Please see them.)

The three major ingredients to support the authentic "Black Church" are music and preaching and praying. It is said that there is a common dictum that "you can't organize Black folks for anything without music," which is to play a crucial role in the worship style and is considered as an instrument in order to raise listener's expectation (or affect) to the highest extent with a view to having the maximum attention and effect being corralled for the sermon. Preaching, of which "pulpit stress" has no equal, is traditionally more "auditory" than "literary." More specifically, it is accepted that it is aimed not so much at the eye as the route to the mind as, primarily, at the ear as the route to the heart. Thus, the auditory character of Black preaching takes on a musical quality, and therein are recognized various shades of pace and emphasis and a certain intonation that is musical enough to have a "key."
(From my master's thesis The Religion of Kokan: On Fushidansekkyo [1996], Chapter II. Evangelism in the Baptist Church, Section 2. Spirituals and Current of Gospel Sound. All the written sources are acknowledged in the pertinent section's notes of my master's thesis. Please see them.)

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