Nyoshin (a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Jodo Shinshu school) (如信)
Nyoshin was a priest of Jodo Shinshu (the Pure True Land school of Buddhism) from the middle to the end of the Kamakura Period. His father was Zenran, a son of Shinran. After his death, he was given, by Kakunyo, a position of the second chief priest at Hongan-ji Temple.
Biography:
His age is counted by the traditional Japanese system. Dates are expressed under the Senmyo calendar (a variation of the old lunar calendar, that was created in ancient China), except for the dates of his birth and death, in order to ensure consistency with descriptions in the concerned documents.
He was born in Kyoto around 1235. Since his childhood, he had been taught and trained by his grandfather, Shinran.
In around 1253, he went to Togoku (the eastern part of Japan; particularly, the Kanto region) together with his father, Zenran, to be engaged in missionary work in Mutsu Province. In 1256, Zenran was disowned by Shinran, but he remained in Mutsu Province to continue propagation. In Oami, Mutsu Province (currently, Furudono-machi, Ishikawa-gun, Fukushima Prefecture,) he constructed a thatched hut (now, left as the remains of Nyoshin-shonin Gannyu-ji Temple) and made it a base from which to continue his mission.
In this place, his activities successfully created a very large company of followers, which was called Oami Monto (followers in Oami area.)
In 1280, at the request of Kakushinni (the youngest daughter of Shinran, and the aunt of Nyoshin) and her son, Kakue, Sinnyo succeeded the light of Buddhism at Otani-byodo Mausoleum (which was the mauseleum of Shinran, and later became Hongan-ji Temple.)
However, Shinnyo continued his activities in Mutsu Province, leaving the operation of the Mausoleum to Kakushinni and Kakue.
In 1299, he visited Kyoto to participate in Hoon-ko (the memorial service for Shinran.)
On his way back to Oami, upon request of his disciple, Jozenbo-shinkai, Shinnyo stayed at Taishi-do Hall (currently, Horyu-ji Temple) in Kamikanesawa, Hitachi Province (now, Daigo-machi, Ibaraki Prefecture) for propagation.
Taishi-do Hall is said to have been built by Nyoshin as a training hall and maintained by Jozenbo. At the same place, Horyu-ji Temple (Kamikanesawa, Daigo-machi, Kuji County, Ibaraki Prefecture) was constructed. This Horyu-ji Temple exists now as a temple of the Otani sect of the Shinshu school.
The thatched hut built in Oami later became a temple, called Gannyu-ji Temple. With the hut being qualified as a temple, Nyoshin was positioned as the first chief priest of Gannyu-ji Temple. Since then, Gannyu-ji Temple has been relocated repeatedly. Around the Enpo era (1673), Mitsukuni TOKUGAWA, the Lord of Mito Domain, moved Ganryu-ji Temple to the current address of Iwafune, Oarai-machi, Higashi-ibaraki County, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Gannyu-ji Temple, which had burnt out in the late Edo period, was rebuilt in 1962, and became the current Gannyu-ji Temple (Isohama-cho, Oarai-machi) as the Head Temple of Original Shin Buddhism
On February 2, 1300, Nyoshin entered nirvana in a thatched hut in Kamikanesawa, Hitachi province.
He was then at the age of sixty-six (or possibly sixty-two.)
While Hoon-ko (a memorial service for his grandfather Shinran) began around 1294, Nyoshin made a trip to Kyoto in each anniversary month of Shinran's death, and initiated Kakunyo into the doctrine of the Jodo Shinshu school (the Pure True Land Buddhism.)
From this fact, after Nyoshin's death, Kakunyo regarded him the second chief priest of Hongan-ji Temple.