A sixty-six-year-old preacher who teaches that the name of Amida alone saves, and who has gathered a crowd of laymen and monks in the eastern hills.
Kanezane, the fallen regent, is his patron and his follower; the Senchakushū was written for him in 1198 and is kept in private. The older schools have not yet moved against him. The complaint of Mount Hiei is 1204, Kōfukuji's petition 1205, and the exile of 1207: none of it has happened.
Who holds it
- Name
- Hōnen (Genkū)
- Title
- Preacher and teacher of the exclusive nembutsu
- Born
- 1133
- Family
- Disciples include Shōkū, Benchō, Kōsai and the young Shinran (still on Mount Hiei until 1201, brief)
- Confidence
- medium
English Wikipedia (Hōnen): Ōtani district of Kyoto; lectured at Tōdaiji in 1190 and at Kanezane's court; wrote the Senchakushū in 1198 at Kanezane's request; the Hiei complaint is 1204, Kōfukuji's petition 1205, the exile 1207.
Overlord
none; patron: Kujō Kanezane
What it holds
- A hut and a lay following at Ōtani (later Chion-in)
How things stand that morning
Respected, unpersecuted, protected by the Kujō.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1202Kanezane takes the vows under HōnenDepends on: Kanezane's age and the fall of 1196 Stopped by: n/a
- 1204 to 1207Hiei and Kōfukuji petition against the nembutsu; Hōnen exiled to Shikoku in 1207 (returns 1211)Depends on: Go-Toba's decision Stopped by: Go-Toba's favour
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: English Wikipedia (Hōnen).
Primary sources for Temple powers (west)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Hundred Times Refined Extracts: court annals (late thirteenth century, from court diaries). Short dated annals of the imperial court excerpted from courtiers' diaries, among them the Gyokuyo and the Meigetsuki. Read online
- Mirror of the East, Anonymous; compiled by officials of the Kamakura shogunate (compiled about 1300 from the shogunate's records, diaries and family documents). The Kamakura house's own chronicle, in daily entries. Read online
- Jottings of a Fool: an interpretative history of Japan, Jien (慈円) (about 1219 to 1220, revised to about 1223). A history by Kujo Kanezane's brother, head of the Tendai school and the leading churchman of the court, written to explain the fall of the Kujo and the rise of the warriors as the working of principle (dori). Read online
- Leaves of Jade: the diary of Kujo Kanezane, Kujo (Fujiwara) Kanezane (九條兼實) (1164 to 1200, as a daily diary). The diary of the former regent, Yoritomo's ally at court, who had been driven from power in the Kenkyu purge of 1196 and lived in retirement in 1200. Read online
- Record of the Bright Moon: the diary of Fujiwara no Teika, Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家) (1180 to 1235, as a daily diary, with gaps). The diary of the poet and courtier, then thirty-eight and a middle-ranking official of the Kujo house. Read online
- Surviving Documents of the Kamakura Period, Various; collected by Takeuchi Rizo (竹内理三) (documents of 1185 to 1333, collected and printed 1971 to 1997). The collected charters, deeds, court orders, shogunal directives, temple records and land registers of the Kamakura age, printed in date order. Read online
- The Tale of the Heike, Anonymous; traditionally attributed to Shinano no Zenji Yukinaga, performed and reshaped by blind reciters (early thirteenth century in its first form; the standard Kakuichi text was fixed in 1371). The epic of the Genpei war, in the form the reciters gave it over the century after 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- OMNIA kja regional brief (KJA_BRIEF.md), the campaign's dated traps and realm table
- Hōnen, English Wikipedia
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.