Eshinni was the wife of Shinran Shōnin. KAKUSHINNI was their youngest daughter. Their foresight and appreciation of the Nembutsu teaching saved Shinran’s writings and established the foundation of Jōdo Shinshū and the Hongwanji-ha. This is their story.
Eshinni
Until recently, very little was known about Eshinni, the woman Shinran Shonin married. However, ten letters that she wrote, dated from around 1254 to 1268, were discovered in the Hongwanji archives in 1921. Eshinni’s letters described important historical events in the life of Shinran Shonin, as well as the conditions in Japan during the Kamakura Era.
Eshinni (1182-1268) was the daughter of a high-ranking samurai in Echigo. She was described as refined and well educated. Eshinni was also a landowner. This allowed her and Shinran to survive and raise a family while Shinran Shonin pursued his life’s mission of spreading the Nembutsu teaching imparted by Honen Shonin. This teaching was to recite Namo Amida Butsu with deep faith, or shinjin, and thus to be embraced by the great Wisdom and Compassion of Amida Buddha.
Shinran Shonin and Eshinni were married around 1210 and lived in Echigo, where he had been exiled in the year 1207. They moved to the Kanto area sometime between 1212 and 1219, returning to Kyoto with some of their children around 1233. Eshinni lived in Kyoto with Shinran until around 1254; then it became necessary for her to return to Echigo to take care of her property. At that time Eshinni was 73 years old. She left her 82-year-old husband in the care of their youngest daughter, Kakushinni.
A Hard Life in Echigo
When Eshinni returned to Echigo, the people there were suffering extreme hardships. Famine followed poor harvests, and epidemics claimed the lives of young and old alike. Eshinni was responsible for her farmlands, her two orphaned grandchildren, and her servants and their families. She struggled to keep herself and her dependence from starving. The circumstances prevented her from ever returning to Kyoto.
However, despite the hardships, Eshinni’s belief in the Nembutsu was unwavering. Later in her life she wrote to her daughter, “I may be going to the land of bliss at any moment. In the land of bliss we will be able to see everything clearly, so I hope that you shall live the life of the Nembutsu and come to join me there.” Eshinni passed away in the year 1268.
Kakushinni
Kakushinni (1224-1283) was born near Mito in the present day Ibaraki Prefecture. Her original name was Ogozen. Some scholars believe that Kakushinni’s birth year was when Shinran Shonin began compiling his major work, the Kyo Gyo Shin Sho (The True Teaching, and Realization of the Pure Land Way).
Kakushinni was nine or ten years old when she moved to Kyoto with her parents. As an adolescent, Kakushinni left home to serve as a lady in waiting to the household of Kuga Michiteru, whose brother was Dōgen, the founder of Zen Buddhism. Kakushinni married Hino Hirotsuna, a relative and follower of Shinran Shonin, and in 1239 she gave birth to a son, Koju (known by his Buddhist name, Kakue). Hino Hirotsuna died when Kakue was seven. Kakushinni took her son and went back to live with her parents. Until Kakue was about nine, he spent time with Shinran Shonin, learning the essence of Nembutsu. Later, Kakue entered Shoren–in, a Tendai temple in Kyoto.
Shinran Shonin Passing
Kakushinni took care Shinran Shonin during his last years. Shinran Shonin entered Nirvana on January 16, 1263, at the age of ninety. In those times, people believed that strange and miraculous events will occur when an important religious person died. Kakushinni wrote a letter to her mother, stating concern that her father’s death was uneventful. Eshinni wrote back, “there is no doubt that your father was born in the Pure Land, and there is no need for me to regenerate this.” Eshinni firmly believed that Shinran Shōnin’s birth in the Pure Land was assured because of this complete reliance on Amida’s Vow.
Kakushinni, Protector of Shinran Shōnin’s Legacy
Three years after Shinran Shonin died, Kakushinni married Onomiya Zennen, who own valuable property in Kyoto. They had at least two sons, one of whom was named Yuizen.
In 1272, Shinran’s ashes were removed from their original site of internment at Ohtani in Higashiyama to Zennen’s estate. Some dedicated and influential disciples of Shinran gave monetary donations to construct the Ancestral Hall. This is the nucleus of today’s Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha.
Although the Ancestral Hall belonged to Shinran Shonin disciples from Kanto, Zennen gave the property on which it stood to Kakushinni in 1274. He also stipulated that it was for her to decide whether his son, Yuizen, or his stepson, Kakue, would be the heir to inherit her land. However, Kakushinni went beyond tradition and decided instead that the land would be jointly own by the disciples of Shinran Shonin.
The Nembutsu teaching was a revolutionary doctrine at the time. The Primal Vow of Amida Buddha embraced all. No one was excluded on the basis of class, gender, education or other biases. Kakushinni may have made her decision based on this understanding of equality that Shinran Shonin taught.
Kakushinni also specified that the upkeep of the Ancestral Hall and the position and authority of the Rusushiki (Protector of the Ohtani Ancestral Hall) should be inherited by Shinran Shonin descendants. Kakushinni assumed the duties of the first Rusushiki (Protector of the Ohtani Ancestral Hall) should be inherited by Shinran Shōnin’s descendants. Kakushinni assumed the duties of the first Rusushiki and served at that position until she passed away in 1283, at the age of 60. Her first son, Kakue, succeeded her as the second Rusushiki. Kakue’s successor was her grandson, Kakunyo (1270-1351). He changed the role of the Rusushiki from a caretaker to an administrator. Today, the head of the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha is known as the Monshu or Abbot.
The contributions of both Eshinni and Kakushinni have had a lasting impact on Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Eshinni gave Shinran Shonin her complete dedication and support, while Kakushinni established the foundation and center from which to transmit his teachings. Eshinni and Kakushinni represented women of the Kamakura Era more confident and self-aware, and who actively participated in the history of Japan.
Eshinni and Kakushinni - Rev. C. Myokai Himaka,- Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church. Publisher: BCA Southern District Ministers’ Association.
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