Explore the Ippen and the Ji-shū school about the Background of this artwork.

The various versions and copies of the Ippen Shōnin Eden relate the life of Ippen (1234–1289), a Buddhist monk who, in 1274, founded the Ji-shū school, one of the branches of Pure Land Buddhism that supplanted the ancient esoteric and elitist Japanese schools of the Kamakura period. Following the Pure Land principles, Ippen taught that the Amida Buddha (Amitābha) welcomes into his paradise anyone who has faith in him; he initiates the faithful to the daily recitation of the name of the Amida Buddha (nenbutsu) and the rituals of ecstatic dances and songs (odori nenbutsu), a simple religious practice accessible to all, even the poor and the uneducated. According to the accounts of the time, this doctrine would have been revealed to Ippen by a manifestation of the Buddha; Ippen then devoted his life to travelling throughout Japan, especially rural areas, to carry the message.
Born in 1239, Ippen was the second son of a family of the Kōno samurai clan in Iyo Province. He entered religious orders at the age of fifteen and studied the teachings of Pure Land Buddhism (known in Japan as Jōdo) in Dazaifu with Shōtatsu (聖達), himself a disciple of Shōkū (証空), before devoting himself to hermit meditation in the mountains. In the summer of 1274, Ippen retired to the Kumano shrine, a sacred place of the Shinto religion. According to legend, he there received a revelation (gongen) that invited him to spread throughout the country the faith of Amida: ie any man can access the Pure Land (ōjō) of the Buddha Amida through the nenbutsu, that is to say the recitation invoking his name.From then onwards, Ippen travelled to temples and shrines in Japan to spread this doctrine. He also took the name of Ippen and lead the life of an itinerant pilgrim, distributing tablets with the nenbutsu inscribed on them. As a sign of a time when religious education was becoming more popular and accessible, Ippen preached in all places of everyday life: inns, markets, villages ... He accompanied his recitations of the name of Amida with ecstatic dances (odori nenbutsu) which seduced the populace with their "frenzied exaltation". In 1289, he fell ill and died in Hyōgo (now Kobe) at Kannon-dō (Shinkō-ji). He is said to have asked that no funeral rites be held for him.It seems that Ippen converted a large segment of the population to the Ji-shū doctrine, perhaps more than 250,000 people. From the middle of the 14th century to the early 16th century, Ji-shū was probably one of the most popular Amidist schools in Japan. However, in the 16th century, it greatly lost influence, and nowadays it is no longer a minority religious movement.
Kamakura period samurai Shōkū Buddhism Iyo Province ink nenbutsu Ippen Iyo Kobe Dazaifu Amitābha Kumano shrine Pure Land Buddhism Kannon Amida Shinto