The Reverend Shonen Sobue, having been accepted such as "Going through all sorts of tribulations, his life is earnestly devoted to preaching" and "The legitimate preacher who still carries on Fushidansekkyo, which was traditional in Japanese Buddhism, 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. The Reverend Shonen is never an entertainer. Yet that the reverend accurately hands down Fushidansekkyo that is the origin of Japanese talking performances (rakugo [Japanese sit-down comedy], kodan [historical narrative], rokyoku [recitation of stories with samisen] and so forth) to the present day and that his virtuoso preaching is premised on all the conditions as a traditional preacher and it is the emergence of a "true figure of Ho Gei Ichinyo " [Literally speaking, that the "Dharma" and the "Art" become unity, and thereby amount to nothing less than the "Dharma" = the "Art."] possess high cultural-historical value and great significance in the history of the Japanese performing arts.

"...I, uhm, delivered a sermon for the first time at the age of eight. When a boy of eight, neither Shinjin nor Anjin was there, just all-you-can-write. I had a sermon written in four sheets of writing paper, and I, in sleep or wake, learned by heart and by rote, and then, I gave a sermon for the first time. That was, uh, the twenty-seventh of December, it was, uhm, in the old days all were given in vigils, and I preached on the night of the twenty-seventh, a night of vigil. In days of old, every pulpit was such a dais as this one, and I ascended it, and would give a sermon, but the main hall was full to the doors. So, many a person, an overflow congregation, left me open-mouthed, and I forgot all. Then, in front of the dais, those, in the first grade in elementary school, let me see, the second grade, wasn't it? Friends of mine were there, and started saying, "Looks like he's forgotten," "He became dumb," so they were saying, "Hush! You are noisy!" while yelling at them, all came flooding back to me. That means, to fly into a temper could happen to be a good thing, I thought, and initiated Sandai, and a narrative for the occasion, though I still remember, our founder, straight from Mt. Hiei, well, there was a time when our founder came to Rokkakudo [Choho Temple in Kyoto]. And that's what the story was about, "(tune) Cold gale force winds wast howling, When making headway in the teeth of these winds, In consideration of how were tortures of the damned in Eight Cold Hells, A lot of trouble did he go to (end tune)," the stories like this were written up, some of the stories. Old folks, men and women, cried, and when I stepped down from the dais, "We're impressed by you," well, some gave me candies, some made offerings, and so, thinking of nothing better than giving a sermon, I became addicted..."

Fushidansekkyo Material 1-c The Reverend Shonen Sobue's Answers to my questions in Japanese [Japanese EUC]

About his first preach A2-2 Video RM A2-2 The Reverend Shonen Sobue's answer to my 1st and 2nd questions at Yurinji Temple on the 16th of September, 1992. Kind: RealPlayer Media Bandwidth: 100.0 Kbps Stream Codec: RealVideo 10, Encoded: 80.0 Kbps Frame Rate: 15.0 fps Data Size: 1.7 MB Duration: 00:02:18.7

Audio Video 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.

• 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)