Eshinni (恵信尼, 1182–1268) was a woman who lived in the

Kamakura Period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

and was the wife of

Shinran ''Popular Buddhism in Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture'' by Esben Andreasen, pp. 13, 14, 15, 17. University of Hawaiʻi Press 1998, . was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) at the turbulent clos ...

, founder of the

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran (founder) S ...

sect of Japanese Buddhism. All that is known about Eshinni comes from the letters she wrote to her daughter, Kakushinni, during her final years. They are now preserved at Hongan-ji temple in Kyoto.

Biography

Early life

Eshinni was born in Echigo province (now

Niigata prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

), likely to a family of some status based on her literary ability and handwriting as seen in the letters she wrote to her daughter.

Marriage

Around 1210, Shinran Shonin and Eshinni got married and settled in Echigo, where he had been exiled since 1207. Sometime between 1212 and 1219, they relocated to the

Kanto region Japanese Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region * Kantō-kai, organized crime group * Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ''Pokém ...

, and at about 1233, they returned to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

with some of their children. Eshinni was also a landowner. This made it possible for her and Shinran Shonin to survive and raise a family while Shinran Shonin worked to spread the

Nembutsu file:玉里華山寺 (21)南無阿彌陀佛古碑.jpg, 250px, Chinese Nianfo carving The Nianfo ( zh, t=wikt:念佛, 念佛, p=niànfó, alternatively in Japanese language, Japanese ; ; or ) is a Buddhist practice central to East Asian Buddhism. ...

teaching which Honen Shonin had imparted on him.

Later years

Eshinni lived in Kyoto with Shinran Shonin until around 1254; then she was forced to return to Echigo to take care of her property. Eshinni was seventy-three years old at the time. She left her eighty-two-year-old husband in the care of their youngest daughter, Kakushinni.

References

{{Authority control Buddhist clergy of the Kamakura period 1182 births 1268 deaths Echigo Province Shinran