As much as singing as talking, the Reverend Shonen Sobue's beautiful voice gets clearer and gains cadence with increasing uplift of the story, and before one is aware, a talk becomes a tune. It is the compelling part where the characteristics of Japanese language is made the most of on the underlying rhythm in seven-and-five syllable meter. By due tenets held in the proper way and Hogo [Dharma words] and Wasan [the classical Japanese hymns of Shinran] introduced ably, the reverend is, with the exquisite tune of his beautiful voice, going straight into congregation's heart.

The Reverend Shonen's phrasing stirs up people's hearts and minds. His preaching is not just what delivers the words, but an expression of such beautiful sounds as dwell in one's heart. Generally, in preaching tempo and cadence play important roles to the extent that they have hearers get even a certain sense of urgency combined with the subject matter, yet that largely depends upon the receiving end as well as upon the edifying side.

It is acknowledged as to the devouts of Shin Buddhism that they are "first-class listeners." That is to be ascribed to the fundamental attitudes of "Mon Po [hearing the Dharma]" and "Mon soku Shin [Hearing, that is, Entrusting]," yet that, as I conceive it, is concerned in the history of Fushidansekkyo to a great extent. Specifically, it is the history that the populace had craved for words and expressions which would reach the populace themselves, and, in the form meeting this need of theirs, Fushidansekkyo has been elaborated. Such a mechanism of responding that is traditional 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.

For this page, I refer to: Kyogyoshinsho in Inagaki, Hisao tr., Kyogyoshinsho: On Teaching, Practice, Faith, And Enlightenment, Copytext: Taisho Volume 83, Number 2646 (Berkeley, California: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2003).

(a free translation) Though it is a bitter wind, Let that west wind in my sleeve, Taking it that it's blowing from the Land of Amida Buddha.

[Hino Saemonnojo]
Shinran and his two disciples walked by Hino Saemonnojo's house at a time of heavy snowfall, and asked Hino Saemonnojo for a night's lodging, but he declined and turned them out harshly. So Shinran lay on a bed of snow and rested his head on a stone, reciting the Nembutsu. Later that night Hino Saemonnojo was struck by the posture that Shinran was saying the Name of Amida Buddha. He sat at Shinran's feet. Received Shinran's teachings, Hino Saemonnojo was regenerated. He was given his Buddhist name Nyusaibo by Shinran.

[The background to this episode]
In 1211, Shinran in snowy Echigo was released from exile with Master Honen who was in Sanuki. Shinran was thinking of returning to Kyoto when the thaw came, but, on the 25th of January in the ensuing year, he learned the sad news of the passing of Master Honen. Shinran did not return to Kyoto, the city without his master, and betook himself to outland Kanto and placed himself in the practice of edification for the subsequent 20 years, interacting with local people who came to encounter the Name as his friends and fellow-travelers of the same path.

[Jogen no Honan]
In February, 1207, the Imperial order that laid the ban on practicing Senju Nembutsu (the Single-Minded Recitation of the Nembutsu) was issued. Honen and several disciples of his Pure Land school were punished either by death or with banishment. It is called "Jogen no Honan." Shinran was implicated in this religious persecution and sent to the place of exile, Echigo. Kyogyoshinsho reads: "Lords and vassals who opposed the Dharma and justice bore indignation and resentment [to the Nembutsu teaching]. Thus, Master Genku, the great founder who promulgated the true teaching of the Pure Land Way, and a number of his followers were, without proper investigation of their crimes, indiscriminately sentenced to death or, deprived of their priesthood, exiled under criminals' names. I was one of them."
(Shinran's "Epilogue" of Kyogyoshinsho in Inagaki, Hisao tr., Ibid., p. 336.)

A note: Jogen is an imperial era name for the period from 1207 to 1211 under Emperor Tsuchimikado (reigned: 1198-1210). • Please see a chronology on the "An Abbreviated Chronological Table of Kamakura Period" page. (The chronological table shows 1. Emperor Names, 2. Imperial Era Names in the Kamakura period, 3. What year it was in the Christian Era, and 4. Japanese Buddhism related events.)

Fushidansekkyo S1 Video RM S1 The Reverend Shonen Sobue's Fushidansekkyo at Yurinji Temple in 1992. Kind: RealPlayer Media Bandwidth: 100.0 Kbps Stream Codec: RealVideo 10, Encoded: 80 Kbps Frame Rate: 15.0 fps Data Size: 1.5 MB Duration: 00:02:07.3

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)