Podcasts about miroku

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Kohaku regain his memories and Miroku is a decent fellow for once.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) continue this filler arc as the gang has to fight against the demon ninjas and Miroku gets to be the most useful he's been all series.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Mushin's final days. Definitely. For sure. Last time we'll ever see him.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Miroku have a wild episode where he punches a lot of ladies and then confesses to Sango.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Miroku and Sango fight a living mummy and Inuyasha isn't nerfed for very long.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Miroku suck up some bees and Inuyasha gets nerfed.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Inuyasha continue his fights against the Band of Seven as Kagome, Miroku, and Sango remain poisoned.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see what would happen if Miroku had to take care a bunch of snow babies.

This episode we are looking at some of the earliest temples to be built in Japan.  Namely: Asukadera and Shitennoji.  These have pretty good claims to be some of the earliest temples, and they are mentioned in this reign, both in relation to the Soga-Mononobe War. For photos and more, check out https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-97  Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 97: Asukadera and Shitennouji. First off, quick shout out to Craig for supporting us on Ko-Fi.com.  We'll have more information on how you can help support the show at the end of the episode. To recap so far, we are still in the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tennou, in the 6th and early 7th centuries—though for this episode we are going to step back a little bit as much of this has origins in the 6th century, looking at the early spread of Buddhism and the founding of some of the first permanent temple complexes—specifically Asukadera in, well, Asuka, and Shitennouji in the area of modern Ohosaka. As we've seen, Yamato was in the process of importing various things from the mainland—both material culture and immaterial things as well, including philosophy and religion.  By religion, of course, we are talking about Buddhism, which we've already covered to some extent in Episodes 85 and 88, but let's go over a little bit of the history, shall we, and catch up with what has been happening since. Buddhism had likely been coming over to the archipelago since the arrival of Buddhist immigrants from Baekje and elsewhere, though their religion is not much discussed.  After all, the Nihon Shoki is focused largely on the Yamato royal family and the court, and so other than groups of immigrants beings settled and possibly organized into family groups, there wasn't much call to look into their day to day practices. It is also difficult to know just how far Buddhism had penetrated into the lower ranks of society on the continent, as well.  Certainly the courts had adopted Buddhism, but to what extent it was part of the daily lives of the common person, I don't know that I could say with any certainty.  Still, we can imagine that there were likely those who came over to the archipelago with an extant belief in the Buddha and some inkling of the rites and other aspects of Buddhist worship.  Did they set up small temples in their villages?  Or convert a house into a shrine?  Or did they just keep private practice and worship?  We don't know, and as far as I've come across we don't seem to have any conclusive evidence via the archaeological record, either.  And so we are left with the written record and what it has to say on the subject. The Nihon Shoki notes the first official mention of Buddhism in the archipelago as the arrival of a Buddhist statue from Baekje.  The official record puts this in the year 552, in the reign of Amekunioshi, aka Kinmei Tennou, and credits Soga no Iname with taking and building the first temple and setting up the first temple by repurposing his own house—or at least some part of his property.  Other families, however, opposed the Soga's attempts at bringing in and establishing this new religion and ultimately ended up destroying that first temple, tossing the image into the river. This whole thing repeated itself in 584, about 32 years later—Silla had given Yamato a Buddhist image in 579, and then an image of Miroku, aka Maitreya, and an image of the Buddha, aka Shakyamuni, were both found.  Soga no Umako, Iname's son and successor to his role as Oho-omi, took the two images and had a temple once again built, importing specialists and setting up three nuns to attend to the appropriate rituals.  Once again, the Soga's opponents, led by the powerful Mononobe family, cried foul and had the temple destroyed and the nuns stripped of their robes. There are a few things about this account that are more than a bit sus, however.  First, there is mention of that first Buddha image in both the Joguki, the record of the life of Prince Shotoku Taishi, as well as a record from Gangoji Garan Engi, a record from Gangoji temple—which is to say Asukadera, one of the temples we'll be talking about, today.  In those records we find a different date for the first Buddha image, with its arrival coming in 538, not 552.  That would have put its arrival a year before Amekunioshi, aka Kinmei Tennou, took the throne.  It is also rather interesting at just how much the two stories parallel each other, and one has to wonder if they were really two separate stories or if they were one story that got attributed to different members of the Soga family, for some reason.  It is also possible that they are different stories, but with similar elements that got conflated across each other.  Or it really was a matter of déjà vu, with the experience of Soga no Umako paralleling that of his father, Iname.  We also cannot discount some massaging of the text.  For one thing, they put it in the reign of Amekunioshi, who had a different maternal line than his previous two successors and elder half-brothers.  There may have been political reasons to keep the stories as they were and, hopefully, keep the story relatively tidy. Regardless of why, the implication seems clear that by 585 there were people in Yamato with some knowledge of Buddhism, as well as the necessary artisans and craftspeople to create a continental style temple complex. In the following years, the fight between the Soga and the Mononobe escalated with the death of sovereign and the ensuing succession dispute.  The Mononobe and their candidate, Prince Anahobe, were destroyed by forces in league with the Soga family.  During that conflict, which we covered in Episodes 90 and 91, there was a point where both Soga no Umako and his nephew, the young Prince Umayado, each prayed to the Buddha for victory, promising to erect a temple if they succeeded.  Indeed, they did succeed, and based on their vows, two temples were eventually created. The first temple is known as Asukadera, or the Temple of Asuka, although it also is known by its official name of Hokoji, and later Gangoji.  Construction of Hokoji started in 588, and is attributed to Soga no Umako. The second temple is Shitennoji, or the Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings.  We'll talk about them a bit more, later, but the Four Heavenly Kings are four gods, who appear to pre-date Buddhism, who were co-opted into the Buddhist pantheon as protectors of Buddhism, each one representing a cardinal direction.  Shitennouji's traditional founding is given to us as 593. Both of these temples still exist, in one form or another.  If you go to Asuka, today, you can find a small Asukadera on the site of the previous temple, but it is much reduced from its original form.  When it was built, Asukadera would have been at the center of the political heartland of Yamato.  It was the land of the Soga, but also the location of the palace of Kashikiya Hime, and it likely rivaled her palace for pride of place in Asuka.  However, when the capital eventually moved away from Asuka—first to nearby Kashihara, but then across the Nara basin to Heijo-kyo, modern Nara city—the temple buildings were removed to Nara, to modern day Gankouji, though the site of Houkouji continued to be used as a small, local temple.  The modern temple in Asuka does have a Buddha statue, however, that they believe to have been the original Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha, known as the Asuka Daibutsu.  It changed hands many times over the centuries, but has since come back to Asuka, though a little worse for wear. Shitennouji, on the other hand, is in the heart of modern Ohosaka, in the Tennoji ward.  The buildings of Shitennouji have been rebuilt numerous times, although supposedly by the same construction company, one of the oldest businesses in the world, and they remain in their original configuration.  Since they've been rebuilt, however, this is why you will often hear of another temple, Horyuji, also associated with Prince Shotoku Taishi, as being the oldest temple in Japan, as it has the oldest extant buildings.  Make no mistake, however—Asukadera and Shitennouji were founded first, and both still survive in some manner. These two temples do a lot to help us better understand Buddhism and its influence, but also helps us understand more than that.  They help us look into the politics of the time, and even illuminate some of the apparent tensions between different immigrant groups from Baekje and Silla that were becoming more and more prominent in Yamato. Of the various early temples that were built, Asukadera is perhaps one of the most well-documented, both in the historic record as well as the archaeological evidence.  Donald McCallum, in his book, “The Four Great Temples”, notes that serious study of Asukadera began around the Meiji and into the Taisho era, in particular calling out the work of Fukuyama Toshio, published in 1934.  Up to that point, it was mostly looking at the histories—both the Nihon Shoki and also works like the Gangouji Engi, the record of Gangouji, the later name for Asukadera.  He determined that much of the record, though it claimed to have been written by Shotoku Taishi himself, was actually written later than the Nihon Shoki, based on linguistic analysis.  However, there were some sections that appear to be earlier or contemporaneous with the Nihon Shoki, likely pulled from other works, which the Nihon Shoki may have been pulling from as well, including inscriptions on the extant temple buildings at the time.  This was determined by things like the grammar and Sinitic characters used, as well as the lack of terms like “Tennou”, which still were not in use until later periods.  It is also interesting to note that Shotoku Taishi is referred to in the document by the name “Prince Umayado no Toyotomimi” Based on that analysis, it seems fairly certain that Soga no Umako was, indeed, largely responsible for donations to build Asukadera, although the Nihon Shoki gives credit to Kashikiya Hime as well.  That and certain other features of the Nihon Shoki account were probably added later, possibly at the urging of the Gangouji priests themselves, to stress a stronger connection with the Yamato royal family rather than just Soga no Umako. The text gives a brief history of Buddhism, which is where we see Buddhism being introduced as early as 538, though it seems to suggest this was still in the reign of Amekunioshi, aka Kinmei Tennou, rather than his predecessors.  Soga no Iname is still given much of the credit, though there is a note about Kashikiya Hime also installing a Buddhist icon in her own quarters at one point—something not mentioned in the Nihon Shoki.  It does mention the various pro- and anti-Buddhist arguments and steps that the various sides took, including Umako having three nuns ordained and them being eventually defrocked—though without mention of them being whipped, which may have been too much or could be sensationalist additions to the Nihon Shoki text. One thing that is notably missing in the Gangouji Engi, at least as McCallum summarizes it, is mention of the Mononobe and Soga conflict, and so there is no mention of any special vow that was made to build Asukadera if they were victorious—let alone anything about the vow to build Shitennouji.  Instead, it is instigated by the three nuns, who request both a nunnery and a monastery, each with at least 10 ordained nuns or priests, as that was the number required for many of the rites and to ensure proper ordination could take place in the future, thus allowing them to grow the religion.  These two temples would need to be close enough so that they could each hear the bells from the other. Although priests were requested from Baekje, too few came over in response, which is why the nuns themselves were sent over to get a proper ordination.  They return in 590 and urge the completion of the two temples—Asukadera and Toyouradera, the latter using the land that was previously Kashikiya Hime's palace prior to her moving to the Oharida palace site, nearby. All of that was based on the extant texts, but there were also archaeological excavations that took place in 1956 to 1957, as well as later investigations in and around Asuka Temple and the general area.  Even today, excavations in the regions are ongoing, and in a recent visit I saw them excavating nearby palace ruins.  Fortunately, the area has not seen the kind of heavy urban development, whether in the modern or pre-modern period, that many other areas have gone through, with much of the land having been returned to farmland, and the importance of the area, today, is well understood. The initial excavations were a bit surprising.  Based on extant temples such as Shitennoji, it was expected that Asukadera would have been planned out in such a way that there was a straight line from the central gate, to the pagoda and the kondou, or golden hall, sometimes called an image hall, with the koudou, or lecture hall, in back.  Often there is some separation of the lecture hall from the other two.  These buildings are both connected and separated by gates, walls, and pathways, including covered cloisters along the wall, which conforms to the pattern of temples on the Korean peninsula as well.  This is very reminiscent of the Baekje layout for temples, and may include other elements such as belfries or similar. The three main buildings each serve a purpose.  As we noted back in Episode 84, the Pagoda had replaced the Stupa, and was often a reliquary, holding relics of some kind.  Then there is the Kondou—literally golden halls, as many of the statues and other artwork would be gilded and designed to reflect light, often shining out from the darkness with the goal of leading more people to consider enlightenment.  These are the halls where images are placed—hence the other term, “image hall”—whether metal, wood, stone, et cetera. The pagoda and the kondou may be areas of personal worship, with believers coming to visit them, perhaps to venerate a particular aspect of the Buddha or contemplate something, and images or particular relics are often ascribed particular spiritual power.  Often these are included together or near one another. On the other hand the koudou, or Lecture Hall, also known as the Ordination Hall, would be the place for sermons and various ceremonies.  In many ways these are the “working” areas of a temple, and while they often have images and are ornately adorned, they have, in some ways, a more utilitarian function, and in many early temple layouts they are often held apart from the pagoda and kondou in some way. At Asukadera, the excavations revealed that it was not planned out in the standard three building model, all lined up, as had been expected.  Instead, there was a walled courtyard, with cloisters around the sides and a central gate that led to a pagoda in the middle of the area.  Then there were three buildings, identified as individual kondou, or image halls, spaced equally to the left, right, and behind the pagoda.  A larger building was then found behind the walled courtyard area, determined to be the temple's lecture hall.  All of this was enclosed in another wall, which seems to have defined the larger area of the temple. This layout is fairly unique.  It doesn't exactly fit anything we've seen in Baekje or Silla temples of the period, and most closely resembles something out of Goguryeo.  It may be worth noting that there are records that claim the King of Goguryeo provided funds to help build temples in Japan, and that some of the monks involved, including the monk Eben, or Hyephyeon, who helped initially ordain the Zenshin and her fellow nuns, was said to be a man from Goguryeo, and so may have had some influence on the design. On the other hand, the rooftiles found at the Asukadera site are very much in the Baekje tradition.  Up to this point, there is no indication that the Japanese were using rooftiles in their construction, and were likely using thatching, much as many Shinto shrines continue to use to this day.  The use of rooftiles is thought to have started with Buddhist temples, and occurred much earlier than their use in other buildings, including palace buildings.  Since rooftiles were ceramic, they required different construction techniques so that the roof could support the weight, which would further explain the need to import craftsmen from the continent to help build these structures. Rooftiles are not necessarily the most exciting thing for people wandering through a museum.  Often one is looking at weapons, jewelry, or haniwa statues, and suddenly you come across a plethora of tiles from different buildings, and it can be easy to just glance past.  Without understanding what you are looking at, the rooftiles often seem the same—or same-ish.  The majority of the tiles are plain, without much distinction.  End tiles—whether round or flat—often have similar decorations, such as lotus flowers, and they are often very similar to one another.  Furthermore, these are rarely refined works of art—tiles were meant to be mass produced and were often created quickly to meet the demands of construction. Despite all of this, I think it is worth recognizing that the rooftiles are often important to helping archaeologists, especially when the rest of the building is no longer extant.  Rooftiles often would fall off and get buried, or even be reused in some way to edge a gutter or something similar.  However, how they are made, the molds that were used, the composition of the clay, etc. can all be analyzed to provide information about the age and size of a structure, helping to know when different buildings may have been built or rebuilt, as well as providing some information on where the materials were coming from.  And for those who want to learn more, you can be sure that every part of a tile has its own specialized name and vocabulary—it is something that you can really delve deep into if that is your thing. The rooftiles at Asukadera are somewhat odd in that they are not as uniform as one might expect, and this may come from the fact that they had imported different tile makers from Baekje, and so each one set up their workshop with slightly different standards.  Later, as Yamato as more temples and other continental style buildings were built, these would become larger, more standardized industries.  Still, that they seem to conform to the general patterns found in Baekje speaks, again, to the location that the craftsmen were likely from, as well as the connections mentioned in the texts. And so we see at least Baekje and possibly Goguryeo influence on the design of this temple. One other thing that has been found is the stone pedestal for an image in the central image hall.  We know that at some point a large image was crafted, and the Asuka Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha Image of Asuka, is still extant, and the stone pedestal was likely where it or a similar image sat at some point.  However, just when this image was created and installed is still unknown—there are references to various images, but nothing that can be directly attributed to the current Asuka Daibutsu, though various scholars have identified it as being consistent with the Asuka style from at least the 7th century. The earliest information talks about the stone Miroku, or Maitreya, image that Kafuka no Omi brought back.  It was probably not that large, and it seems that it was eventually enshrined at Asukadera in some form.  There are mentions of various icons made in the early 7th century as well, which could refer to this.  It is said that it was made in 609 by Kuratsukuri no Tori, though that is not without controversy.  It was damaged in a fire in 1196, which was originally thought to have destroyed everything.  Indeed, an examination of the image has shown that it appears to have been reconstructed, though there is some evidence that the face and right hand are likely original, while the rest of the body was refashioned, probably from the burnt and melted pieces that were damaged in the fire.  It still sits in the Angoin at the modern site of Asukadera, for anyone who wants to come and see it. Taken together, this can give us some idea of what it took to build the temple.  Previous so-called temples appear to be conversions of local buildings, with perhaps some work on building a proper pagoda, but at Asukadera they went full-out to build according to the continental standards.  That said, there has been a significant amount of ink spilled over just how this process went. Based on the Nihon Shoki, it would almost appear that everything arrived, fully formed, at the end of 588.  As I've noted previously, the way that the Nihon Shoki records read it can sometimes be difficult to figure out exactly what happened when, as a single entry will often contain details that must have happened before or after the date of the entry itself, and it isn't entirely clear exactly what happened on the referenced date, in many cases.  Furthermore, since the Chroniclers were pulling from other sources, there is always the possibility that they, themselves, misinterpreted something.  Finally, I would note that their primary goal was to give readers and idea of what happened that conformed with what was known as true and what supported the state institutions.  Would it have mattered to them exactly when Asukadera was built, as long as it was generally right and in the regards to the appropriate sovereign and nobles?  Probably not. It likely would have taken some time to pull everything together.  There would have been planning sessions, and drawings.  They would have to harvest the right kind of wood and shape it based on the designs, and an entire industry of tile-making would have to be set up, likely with local hands learning the process.  Similarly, woodcarvers would have already existed, but they would likely need to learn new techniques to account for the continental design.  And then there were the various rituals that would need to be carried out.  This is all in addition to any stonework, special metalwork, or other such things that had not been previously done in the archipelago.  On top of that, there would have been issues of translation, with immigrant artisans directing their various groups of craftsmen. It is possible that work for planning the temple began as early as 588—which may have just been the request for more craftsmen—and then in 596, when we have textual evidence that some part of the temple was “finished”, that may have been nothing more than the pagoda by that time.   It is then unclear whether the other buildings were finished together or in separate phases—perhaps the central image hall was finished, and then the two on the sides of the pagoda were added at a later date.  Images may have also been shifted around as new images, like the Asuka Daibutsu, were completed.  Many scholars have argued for different interpretations based on their readings of the texts, but none of the evidence is so clear as to be incontrovertible. What is clear is that this was a grand temple, and that would have been equally clear to everyone who viewed it.  Furthermore, this temple was connected directly to Soga no Umako and the Soga family.  Something to consider:  Just as the giant tomb mounds helped demonstrate the power of various clans based on the work and resources that went into them, a temple like Asukadera would have provided similar cache for the Soga family.  This is more than just religious devotion, it was a political statement, made in the heart of the region that Kashikiya Hime was ruling from.  Visitors to her palace—not to mention later palaces in the area—would have hardly been able to miss the pagoda and the tiled rooves, and locals would have likely heard the toll of the bell, assuming that both they and Toyouradera had them as the sources mention. Speaking of Toyouradera, I have less information on that compound, but it seems to have been built sometime later.  Kashikiya Hime moved to the new Woharida palace around 603, which would have freed the Toyoura palace buildings to be used for the nunnery.  While there is evidence of a pagoda being built, I suspect that it originally reused the old palace buildings, repurposing them, and then would have been built out as time allowed.  There is still a temple in Toyoura, and some remains that have been examined, but I am not aware of anything as extensive as the work on Asukadera. In comparison—and perhaps contrast—to Asukadera is the other temple of this episode: Shitennouji, the temple of the Four Heavenly Kings.  Now while many later texts certainly involved both Kashikiya Hime and Prince Umayado in the building of Asukadera, it is clear that Soga no Umako played a leading role—and was probably the primary patron for that temple.  In contrast, Shitennouji is directly associated with none other than Prince Shotoku Taishi.  It claims to have been founded in 593, based on the account of the Nihon Shoki, and it is said to have been commissioned by Crown Prince Shotoku, aka Prince Umayado, in response to the Four Heavenly Kings' intervention in the Soga-Mononobe war. To put some of this in perspective:  Prince Umayado is said to have been born in 574, and he would have been a teenager during the Soga-Mononobe war, and would have been about 20 years old or so in 593.  Granted, this is Shotoku Taishi we are talking about, and all of the history about him claims that he was quite precocious.  It is said that when he was born, his hands were clasped together.  Two years later, he opened his hands and it was revealed that he had been born holding a relic of the Buddha, which was later enshrined at the temple of Houryuji. Speaking of Houryuuji, I'm sure we'll spend more time on it in a future episode, but here's what you probably should know for context.  Houryuuji was built on the site of Prince Umayado's Ikaruga palace, and is also said to have been directly patronized by Umayado, aka Shotoku Taishi.  Furthermore, it has the oldest extant wooden buildings in the world, let alone in Japan.  And yet, the Shitenouji temple appears to get more air time in the Chronicles, which may be a factor of several different things, but primarily indicating that Shitenouji and its patrons were ascendant at court at the time that everything was being written down, whereas it appears that Houryuuji may have been rebuilding after a fire, and therefore was not as prominent as it would later be.  Either way, I encourage people to visit both to get a better idea of this period. There is less textual evidence—or perhaps there has simply been less scrutiny—for the founding of Shitenouji, and its position is hardly central to the Yamato court.  Nonetheless, it is in a place of prominence, as it was near Naniwa, the port to the Seto Inland Sea and beyond.  This was also an area that had a high number of immigrants from the mainland, which I'll be returning to in a bit. As I mentioned earlier in this episode, Shitenouji follows what we might consider a more traditional design.  Entering through the central gate, one comes upon the five storied pagoda, behind which stands the kondou, or image hall.  All of this is surrounded by a cloistered wall, which encircles both until you get to the north end, where the wall terminates at the koudou, or lecture hall.  The buildings are brightly painted and decorated in red, green, and white—colors that would have likely adorned Asukadera's posts as well, and which we see in many later temples and images.  In fact, the image of a Buddhist temple as brown and plain comes later, likely originating with just the ravages of time and the lack of funding to keep up with the paint, which was originally said to help preserve the wood and prevent damage from insects.  Eventually, some sects would come to prefer the more subdued image brought about by natural wood, creating a new aesthetic that continues to be popular.  Today you can find a variety of different temple buildings from different eras, some of which maintain the bright colors that would have likely been part of any early temple. There have been some excavations around Shitenouji, which appear to confirm that the shape has remained roughly the same over the centuries, from what I can tell.  The buildings themselves have been rebuilt over the years, but maintain a certain characteristic that seems appropriate to the early temple period.  This may be due to the fact that the temple has retained the services of a family of temple builders that continue to operate as a business, even today.  Kongou Gumi claims that it was founded in 578, when craftsmen were brought from Baekje to help build temples in Japan, making it the oldest company in the world, though it is now a subsidiary company of the Takamatsu Construction Group.  They continue to specialize in traditional temple, shrine, and castle construction, preserving ancient techniques, but also employing modern materials, such as concrete and rebar, where appropriate. While they were specific to Shitennouji, they were not exclusive, and in the 16th century they helped rebuild Osaka castle.  They have repeatedly rebuilt Shitennouji and maintained it through the years, even after it has, at times, been completely destroyed by fire or even typhoon. The story of Shitennouji's founding we talked about in the episode on the Soga-Mononobe War, but to quickly recount:  The young Shotoku Taishi crafted figures of the four Heavenly kings and prayed for a Soga victory, promising to build a temple if they won.  The Soga did win, and so he followed through by building this temple, using land taken from the Mononobe during the war. So who were the Four Heavenly Kings?  Why didn't he just pray to the Buddha? The Four Heavenly Kings are gods from India that were transmitted along with Buddhism as Buddhist Deities.  They are: Vaisravana, aka Tamonten, in the north Virudhaka, aka Zouchouten, in the south Dhrtarastra, aka Jikokuten, in the east  And Virupaksa, aka Koumokuten, the west. In general, if you are at a Japanese temple, and you see the name end with “Ten” it may be referring to one of the various Heavenly Kings. The four heavenly kings are devas, and included as four of the 20 or 24 devas who manifest to protect the Dharma.  Given their role in protecting the various cardinal directions, they became popular in East Asian Buddhism, and show up in various Mahayana texts, but they also appear in Theravada traditions as well.  It is unclear exactly when and how they became associated with Buddhism, though it wasn't uncommon for Buddhism to co-opt various gods and deities and turn them into aspects of the Buddha, Boddhisatvas, or, as in this case, protectors of Buddhism.  We see similar things happen in the archipelago as various kami are, on occasion, given Buddhist aspects and accepted as defenders of Buddhism. It appears that they have a particular place in the Konkoumyou Sutra, or Sutra of Golden Light, which is where they appear to have entered East Asian Buddhism.  This sutra may have been translated as early as the 5th century, though the Nihon Shoki uses quotes that appear to come from a translation likely made around the 7th or 8th century, which was likely popular at the time that the Nihon Shoki was being compiled.  Not only that, but later in the 8th century, various Kokubunji, or provincial temples, would be set up under state sponsorship, in part to create spiritual protection for the realm, and these were specifically set up as temples of the Four Heavenly Kings.  So we can see that belief in the efficacy of the Four Heavenly Kings was important around the time that the Chronicles were being compiled. In addition, Shitennouji is heavily influenced by what some call the “Cult” of “Shotoku Taishi”.  Again, by the time that the Nihon Shoki was being compiled, Prince Umayado had already been lifted up on a pedestal and turned into something more than just a Prince—however influential he may have been.  He became known as the Father of Buddhism, and the Father of the Nation, having also played a part—we are told—in the creation of the first ever 17 article constitution.  He was a Soga relative but he was not, importantly, a member of the direct Soga line, which would land on hard times just a few generations later and be on the political outs. Michael Como, in his book on Shotoku Taishi, also points out that Shitennouji was associated with the Abe family and with various lineages with ties specifically to Silla, including groups like the Hata—although the layout of the temple still accords with Baekje temple design, as far as I can tell.  Still, by the 8th century in particular, Shitennouji and similar temples claiming sponsorship or connections to Shotoku Taishi appear to have had connections with lineages descending from or with connections to Silla.  Spoiler alert:  Silla would eventually take over the entire Korean Peninsula, and therefore, by the 8th century, there were no new “Baekje” or “Goguryeo” immigrants—anyone coming over was from Silla.  And Michael Como points out that there seems to have been a bit of a political rift and distinction between Silla descended lineage groups and Baekje descended lineage groups.  Asukadera and the Soga family—and even Shotoku Taishi's temple of Houryuuji—appear to have been firmly attached to the Baekje lineages, whom they had sponsored to come over to help them promote Buddhism, but by the 8th century, Silla-backed groups were more dominant.  He points to a “split” in the Shotoku Taishi worship, with the Silla-backed temples dominating the narrative in the 8th century and beyond. This may also play into the story of the founding of Shitennouji, as there is a similar story in the Samguk Yusa, as Como points out.  In it, the King prays to the Heavenly Kings for victory against the Tang, and that same King is said to have built the Sacheonwang Temple in the Silla capital of Gyeongju.  This temple would become a model for later temples in Silla, and introduced a layout with two pagodas, rather than one.  We see this pattern arrive in the archipelago, influencing temples like Yakushiji, in modern Nara. Unfortunately, this all seems to just muddy the waters.  I think we can probably say that the founding of Shitennouji by a young Shotoku Taishi, while possible, seems a bit sus.  Sure, I guess they could have built a temple on the land taken from the Mononobe—it would have been quite the statement given that the Mononobe had been so anti-Buddhism, at least according to the textual records.  But was it originally dedicated to the Four Heavenly Kings?  Or did that part come later, as the texts on the Four Heavenly Kings grew more popular? I suspect that the temple, which seems laid out in the standard Baekje style, was no doubt one of the early temples, and it may even have been built on Mononobe property.  But the association with Shitennouji—and the legend of Shotoku Taishi—probably came later.  It was in a great position, however, to gain patronage from newly arrived immigrants, as the port of Naniwa would have been one of the more cosmopolitan locations, and after the downfall of Baekje and Goguryeo, most of those people crossing the sea would have identified with Silla. Regardless of the legends behind it, Shitennouji does appear to have a claim to be one of the oldest temples in Japan, and shortly after it was built—or at least they started work on the temple—we are told that Kashikiya Hime told Shotoku Taishi to aggressively promote Buddhism, which seems to have kicked off a temple-building fad.  No doubt the prestige that came from being connected with a temple like Asukadera or Shitennouji had some small part to play in that. Temples would become another source of spiritual, and thus political, power, for various kinship groups, much as shrines and kofun were as well.  In fact, the temple building craze is often seen as the beginning of the end of the Kofun period.  All of the money and resources that were poured into temple building—whether as private projects or as state sponsored projects—would put a huge drain on the labor pool for things like monumental tombs.  In addition, as Buddhist theology took hold, a dedicatory temple was, in many ways, more useful, as it could be a way of building merit for the dead, as opposed to simply building giant tomb mounds.  That doesn't mean it ended immediately, but as I've mentioned before we start to see the tomb sizes shrink.  Nothing would rival the middle kofun era building projects, and there would be a greater focus on building things like temples. I also suspect that this new style of construction may have had other knock on effects as well.  Grand buildings such as those built for temples, and later palaces, were not quite so easy to dismantle and reassemble elsewhere.  These were major construction projects and the materials were now heavier, especially those tiled roofs.  Not that it was “easy” to just build a palace in the older style, but it was clearly something that could be done quickly if necessary, as shown with the construction of various temporary buildings for envoys and the like—or even the decision to move to a new palace part way through a reign.  These new buildings weren't the same, and we can see how, when Asukadera was moved up to Nara—where it is known as Gankouji—they clearly left many of the buildings and materials behind and likely built new buildings in the new capital.  Giant images would also have been difficult to transport, and probably easier to just commission a new one.  Had Asukadera, aka Houkouji, not burned down and been generally neglected by the court, which by then had moved on to Heian-kyo, then perhaps it would have retained some of the buildings, as Houryuuji, did.  Unfortunately, it did burn down, and so today is only a shadow of what it once was—though still worth a visit, in my opinion. And that's where we'll wrap things up for now.  Until next time, then, thank you for listening and for all of your support.  If you like what we are doing, tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to Tweet at us at @SengokuPodcast, or reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.   

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see how everyone suddenly has a major disdain for Miroku.

We are back looking at Buddhism in the archipelago, this time in the reign of Nunakura Futodamashiki, aka Bidatsu. For references and more, check out our blog page at: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-88   Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua, and this is Episode 88: Let's Give This Buddhism Thing Another Try. This episode we are going to return to the story of Buddhism in the archipelago—specifically what was going on into the next reign.  And what a fortuitous episode to do it on as well.  For those who aren't aware, “8” is an auspicious number in Buddhism, so I figure for episode 88, this makes for a decent topic. Now back in Episode 86, we saw the death of Ame Kunioshi, aka Kimmei Tennou, in 576 CE, just as a delegation of envoys arrived from Goguryeo.  As we noted at the time, Nunakura Futodamashiki no Mikoto, aka Bidatsu Tennou, succeeded him to the throne.  You may recall that Nunakura was the second son of Ame Kunioshi and his Queen, Ishihime.  His older brother, Yata no Tamakatsu no Ohoye appears to have been the Crown Prince, but then he passed away, and so Nunakura was raised up in his stead. In many ways, Nunakura represents the Old Guard at this time.  The Chronicles make it clear that he is a classical heir, descended through multiple royal lineages.  His father, Ame Kunioshi, was of course the latest in the lineage descending from Wohodo no Ohokimi, aka Keitai Tennou, while his mother, Ishihime, was the daughter of Takewo Hiro Kunioshi Tate, aka Senka Tennou, Ame Kunioshi's brother by another mother—quite literally.   In fact, one wonders if the reason for Magari no Ohine and Takewo, aka Ankan and Senka Tennou, even being mentioned as sovereigns in the Chronicles may have been because of the way that they therefore legitimized Nunakura's own reign, as some scholars have suggested that they really may not have ruled at all, and that really it was all Ame Kunioshi during that entire period that their reigns covered.  After all, most of the sovereigns up to this point have been descended through multiple royal lineages, and even Magari no Ohine and Takewo's reigns were depicted as though they were simply regents, holding the seat for their younger and more legitimate brother. Nunakura held fast to the old traditions in another way, too: We are pointedly told in the Nihon Shoki that, though he was of good character, he was not a Buddhist.  This is perhaps a curious statement to make—after all, none of the previous sovereigns have really been Buddhist, either—but then this is the first sovereign to take the throne since the archipelago had been exposed to Buddhist teachings, at least according to the narrative. From our perspective today, that doesn't seem all that strange.  Buddhism had just come to the archipelago and, honestly, it hadn't made that much of a splash from what we can tell.  Back in Episode 85, Soga no Iname had set up a temple and started worshipping an image that had come from the continent, but that initial attempt was sabotaged by others, including Mononobe no Okoshi.  The old families were, of course, rather invested in the system of rituals around their local kami and the socio-political power they derived from being in charge of those same rituals. Soga no Iname had passed away towards the end of the previous reign, and his son, Umako, took up the mantle as head of the Soga family, and his father's position as Oho-omi.  Meanwhile, Mononobe no Okoshi had also passed away, and it seems that at the head of the Mononobe family as a man by the name of Yuge no Moriya, who was confirmed in his position as Ohomuraji by the new sovereign—or at least that is what the Nihon Shoki tells us, and it may be because of his prominence in the story to come.  The Sendai Kuji Hongi claims that it was Moriya's brother, Ohoichi no  Mikari, who was made Ohomuraji, but there is little else.  Regardless of whether it was Moriya or Mikari, the power dynamics between the Soga and Mononobe families were still in a similar to the previous reign, just in new hands. Now, for all that the Chronicles stress how much Nunakura was not a Buddhist, neither was he particularly nativist.  He enjoyed the Classics that were being imported from the mainland, and presumably was able to read in the continental fashion.  He was also interested in ensuring good relations with the Korean peninsula—with both Yamato's traditional ally of Baekje, but also with the growing kingdom of Silla.  Still, Buddhism was off the table for him. For the most part his reign started similar to any other.  After coming to the throne, in 572, he confirmed his wife as Queen, with his mother being hailed as the Queen Mother.  He also set up his own palace site at Ohowi in Kudara, in the land of Kawachi.  Interestingly this appears to place him outside of the Nara basin—certainly outside of the lands of the Soga.  However, the area that he settled in, Kudara, is interesting because that is the same reading given to the characters for “Baekje”.  In fact the kanji, or Sinitic characters, that they use are the same as “Baekje”, and if you didn't know otherwise you would likely read them as something like “Byakuzai”.  However, just as many characters for the Han and Tang dynasties are read as “Kara”, likely referencing the fact that things came to the archipelago through the Kara states, the name for Baekje was rendered as “Kudara”. And to be honest, I've never seen a good reason why the characters came to be read this way, or even whether or not that was the reading when the Chronicles were compiled.  Certainly it was the authoritative reading later on, and there are plenty of placenames that use that reading as “Kudara”.  Still, I'm not absolutely certain when that reading became common, but that is how these kanji are often pronounced, today, for whatever reason. Now just because Nunakura wasn't a Buddhist didn't mean that Buddhism wasn't still making inroads into the islands.  And while the Soga family would stand at the forefront of Buddhist proselytization, our first actor is actually a little different, and largely forgotten, from what I can tell.  His name was Ohowake no Miko, or the royal prince Ohowake. This name doesn't do a lot to help us identify him.  He's a royal prince, meaning he had a direct claim to the royal lineage, born to one of the sovereigns or their progeny.  “Oho” means “Big”, or “Elder”, and “Wake”, well, that's a bit more complicated.  Based on the way it is used in older names it would appear to be a title or honorific of some kind.  Traditional Japanese etymology claims that it comes from the fact that “Wake” comes from “Wakeru”, to break, cut off, or separate.  So basically they come from a line that has been “cut off” from the royal lineage, but they still have royal blood.  This seems a little suspect to me, personally.  I do wonder if it could be related to the term “Waka”, which also shows up a lot in names, but that is a stretch.  Instead, I think it may be an old title, or kabane, for a person of not insignificant rank.  Still, it isn't clear what is meant, and even then, this is a pretty generic name that doesn't tell us much about who this guy actually was.  One theory is that this is another name for someone mentioned elsewhere in the Chronicles, perhaps even one on the later sovereigns.  People at the time that the Chronicles were written knew who it referred to, but it is much harder to piece together, today.  Another suggestion is that this “Ohowake” was someone who was otherwise written out of the history for some reason—all except for here.  Of course, why they were written out one could only fathom a guess.  Finally, there is the thought that the name could be misspelled.  Back in the time of hand copying, over thousands of copies it would be easy to slip up once or twice in the thousands of characters they had written, already.  Later scribes then faithfully copied the mistake, and suddenly a new name is born.  Even then, though, I'm not sure we could make a good guess as to who this really was. What we do know is that in 577, this royal prince known only as “Ohowake” in the Chronicles went to Baekje, presumably as an ambassador for Yamato, and returned with religious books and six individuals, including monks, a nun, an architect, and a Buddhist image maker.   It is significant, that what this royal prince brought back was more than just books this time.  Now, there were artisans being imported who could actually make Buddhist statues and temples here in the islands.  They would have known how those temples were built, the significance of the layout, how the wooden beams were carved, and even how the distinctive rooftiles were made.  And this wasn't just different craft techniques - there were rules for how a temple was supposed to be constructed, the different buildings, even the relics to be buried underneath a building to help make it sacred.  Likewise the images also followed particular rules.  Whether it was the image of the Buddha, or of one of the many accompanying deities, it wasn't enough to be a stone carver or a woodworker—Buddhist imagery was its own thing.  All of this was very different from other artforms and architecture in the archipelago at the time.  It is also telling that Ohowake brought back monks and a nun.  Specifically they had brought monks who specialized in various practices, including meditation and mantra recitation.  You may recall that earlier the people of the archipelago had received images and texts, and it seems that Soga no Iname was trying to piece together what to do based on the texts—likely interpreting all of it through the eyes of the local religious practices of the time.  An ordained monk and an ordained nun, however, would have known the proper rituals and how they were to be conducted.  But almost more importantly, you needed Buddhist monks and nuns to make other Buddhist monks and nuns —although technically you typically need more than that, you should have a Sangha, a Buddhist community.  While traditions vary, it would seem that you need at least four monks to make a Sangha, and some traditions require at least ten —and I presume the same or more for women.   Whether or not they could authoritatively conduct all of the rites, the monk and the nun could, one assumes, teach how they were supposed to be done.   These newcomers appear to have been ensconced at a place called Ohowake-ji, or Ohowake temple, in Naniwa.  Some suggest that this may be in error and that “Ohowake” was a typo for “Ohogori”, an official residence for envoys traveling to and from Japan.  If this latter is true, then much like Soga no Iname had turned his house into a temple, these Buddhist teachers may have been staying at the Ohogoori-ji, and there was a scribal error of “Wake” for “Goori”.  This theory also notes that the word “Ji”, or “Tera” in the kun'yomi reading, originally meant an official government building, but gradually shifted to referring to Buddhist temples as Buddhism made its way across the desert, through Yellow River and Yangzi river valleys. By the time it made it to the Korean peninsula and across the strait to the Japanese archipelago, Buddhist temples were all using the suffix “-Ji”.  The problem with this theory is that we don't really see the character “ji” or “tera” used in the government building sense in other instances from this time, and so it seems a bit of a stretch to suggest that is what is going on here.  Personally, I envision that they did stand up a temple, though the actual location and design—let alone the artifacts within—have been lost to time.  Ohowake's import of Buddhist expertise wasn't it for Buddhism during Nunakura's reign, however, as things continued to trickle in.  In 579, for example, Silla envoys brought a Buddhist image, indicating that they, too, had taken an interest in this foreign religion, and they were using it as part of their diplomacy.  This may have been a further reason to pressure Yamato to at least look into the religion and join the larger world of Buddhist countries, but it doesn't seem to have swayed the sovereign—at least not in any obvious way. Five years after the gift from Silla, in 584, Soga no Iname's son and heir, Soga no Umako, decided to give this interesting new religion another go.  The atmosphere by this point was a little different: still not entirely hospitable, but there had clearly been more and more interest in Buddhism since its first arrival fifty years before.  In addition to the growing acceptance of this foreign religion, however, there were some key political aspects as well that may point to why Soga no Umako decided to act. You see, Nunakura, at the start of his reign, had been married to a woman named Hirohime, who was the daughter of Okinaga no Mate no Miko.  The Okinaga family doesn't get quite as much press as others, but seems to have been relatively powerful; and let's not forget that there was a sovereign, Okinaga Tarashi Hime, aka Jinguu Tennou.  They had not only supplied Hirohime as a daughter to the current sovereign, but their name is found in the lists of people who had produced wives of the sovereign going back for several generations.  Hirohime was the queen, and no doubt one of her progeny was expected to eventually come to the throne and rule as sovereign.  However, in 576, just five years into Nunakura's reign, Hirohime passed away.  This tragic event nonetheless left a bit of a political void in the form of the Queen, whose offspring would no doubt possess some serious political chops, whether or not they actually ruled.  Fortunately for the Soga, they had an answer: Toyomike Kashikiya Hime, the daughter of Amekunioshi and Kitashi Hime, which made her half-sister to Nunakura, but more than that, it made her the niece of none other than Soga no Umako, since her mother was also a child of Soga no Iname.  And without spoiling too much, put a pin in her name—we will definitely be coming back to her in later episodes.   It is unclear whether Kashikiya Hime was already one of Nunakura's  consorts or if she was instead promoted directly to queen, based on the way the Chronicle talks about it, but Queen she did become.  We are told that she was taken up at the “urging of the court”, and probably by certain prominent figures therein, and so the Soga's plan to marry their daughters into the royal lineage and thus use blood ties to more closely bind themselves to the central authority appears to have been working. This also meant that as Umako tried once again to get Buddhism off the ground, he now had a supposedly friendly figure in the royal bedchamber, who could help whisper in the sovereign's ear.  So he had, presumably, a little more clout than his father had when he had tried to set up a temple. To start things off, Soga no Umako had heard about two Buddha images in the archipelago, and he went about acquiring them.  The first was a stone image of Miroku, aka Maitreya, the future Buddha who was said to come in another four to nine thousand years to remind people of the Dharma once again.  This had been brought from Baekje by an immigrant known to us as Kafuka no Omi.  The other was an image of the Buddha, presumably Gautama, the historical Buddha, in the possession of one Saheki no Muraji. With these images in his possession, Soga no Umako went looking for someone with previous knowledge of Buddhist practices to assist.  To do this he enlisted the help of Kurabe no Sukuri no Shiba Tattou, along with others.  Tattou is traditionally thought to have come from the continent, possibly as early as 522 CE, about 63 years earlier.  The Fuso Ryakki, compiled in the eleventh century, claims he came from the “Great Tang”, even though that dynasty had yet to have been established, and that he had immigrated to the country of Yamato, where he built a grass hut and installed an image of the Buddha.  While this is likely a bit of exaggeration on the part of the ancient chroniclers, to make Tattou seem like the perfect Buddhist resource, it is likely that Tattou did come from the continent or was a descendant in the first or second generation, and that he had some knowledge about the religion.  This made him perfect for Soga no Umako, who needed someone who knew what to look for in others who might be able to assist him in once again setting up a temple of his own. Sure enough, Tattou found someone: a former monk from Goguryeo, named Ebin in Japan, now living in Harima, who had gone back to being a layperson.  This is not as unusual as it may seem, as there are many reasons that someone might leave the monkhood, and even later return back to it.  Whether or not he was currently an ordained and practicing monk, Ebin would have known the rites and how to proceed. Here I would note that it seems a bit odd that Umako would have searched high and low throughout the immigrant community if the temple of Ohowake was still there in Naniwa.  Why didn't they just ask someone from that temple to come and get things kickstarted for them?  Unfortunately, we don't know, though it is possible that the temple of Ohowake had already failed for some reason. And so the former monk, Ebin, was brought on board Umako's little project, and there are some sources that suggest there was a nun as well, known as Houmei, but I didn't notice her name in the Nihon Shoki.  Ebin—and possibly Houmei—were first told to instruct none other than Tattou's own daughter, Shima, or possibly Shimane, to become a Buddhist nun.  This may have been at least in part because Tattou's family clearly already had some familiarity with Buddhism, and there may have also been some linguistic advantages depending on the languages they knew and spoke—especially as much of what had come over was probably written in Sinic characters. Shima was given the Buddhist name of Zenshin, or more appropriately Zenshin-ni.  This was another common practice, at least in East Asia, where new initiates would take a Buddhist—or more appropriately a Dharma—name when they were ordained.  We'll see this a lot, and you have no doubt encountered such names elsewhere.  They are typically made up of two kanji, or Sinitic characters, and pronounced with the On'yomi reading.  The name is often given by a teacher and emphasizes some Buddhist virtue or teaching that is considered particularly apt.  In this case “Zenshin” would appear to mean something like “Auspicious Belief”. Two other women were taken on as students—or possibly as servants, or just junior nuns—along with Zenshin.  They were Toyome, daughter of Ayabito no Hoshi, who became Zenzou, which would seem to indicate “Meditative Storehouse”; and Ishime, daughter of Nishigori no Tsubo, who became Ezen, or something like “Blessed Fortune”. With three nuns, Soga no Umako built a Buddhist Temple onto the east side of his home where he enshrined the stone image of Miroku, or Maitreya, the future Buddha, and he had the three newly minted nuns worship there while Shiba Tattou and Hida no Atahe provided them support and sustenance. Although they were ordained and worshipping a Buddhist image, it is interesting that Umako chose women to become nuns, rather than monks.  There is some thought that, for all of the Buddhist instruction, Umako was still following a popular indigenous model of worship, where the three women were essentially acting in place of female shamans, a tradition that would appear to have been common on the archipelago all the way back to Queen Himiko, and hinted at in various places within the Chronicles, including the very stories of the kami themselves.  One also questions just how much the women knew regarding Buddhist practice, despite having a teacher who was formerly a monk.  There are some suggestions that the women themselves were rather young, with one note claiming that Zenshin was only twelve years old when she was ordained—hardly an age where one expects her to be leading, let alone teaching, about a foreign religion from another country. Furthermore, the terms used surrounding the nuns' “worship” also leads one to wonder.  The word used is “sai” or “matsuri”, which is sometimes translated as “maigre faire”, or abstinence, but here likely refers to some kind of meal or feast.  This was possibly a Buddhist vegetarian feast, though the idea of a feast as worship seems to dovetail nicely once again into the local practices surrounding kami worship as well. From this first meal, Tattou supposedly found a “relic”, by which would seem to be meant a relic of the Buddha.  Now what a relic of the Buddha was doing in the Japanese islands, so far away from the Indian subcontinent, might seem to be a pertinent question, but that is where you would be wrong.  You see, according to some traditions, the body of the Buddha had transformed through miraculous processes into hard crystal or glass stones, which themselves had made their way across the world.  This was fortunate for Buddhists, who therefore didn't need to send away for fresh relics from India every time they needed to found a new temple, they just had to find appropriate relics where they were. To test the relics—we aren't given much more of a description of what they were—Soga no Umako took a giant iron maul and brought that hammer down on the relic Tattou had found.  However, rather than the relic shattering, the iron maul broke, instead, along with the block of iron they had put underneath of it.  After testing its strength, the relic was placed in water, where it would float or sink depending on what was desired.  These supposedly proved that the relic was holy, and so it was used to inaugurate a new pagoda.  The pagoda was built on top of the Hill of Ohono, or large field, and we are told that they had the nuns conduct another ritual feast prior to placing the relic in the top of the pagoda, recalling the purpose of the pagoda as the replacement for the stupa, the repository for relics of the Buddha at a temple complex. In the background of all of this, Yamato was apparently experiencing their own epidemic.  We are told that pestilence was in the land, and Soga no Umako himself became ill.  Trying to ascertain the cause of his own illness, Umako enlisted a diviner, who told him that the pestilence was a curse sent by the Buddha worshipped by Soga no Umako's father, Soga no Iname.  Once again we see the Buddha being treated more like a kami.  After all, why would the one who came to save all sentient beings curse someone?  And yet they did seem to believe that this curse was due to the way that the previous temple that Iname had set up had been torn down and the image tossed, unceremoniously, into the Yodo river. And since the cause of the pestilence had been determined by a diviner, apparently that was enough to get Nunakura on board.  Whether or not he personally worshipped the Buddha, he allowed Umako to worship the image so that he could appease his father's gods and hopefully recover. Shortly thereafter—less than a week later, if the dates are to be believed—we start to really get a sense of déjà vu, as Mononobe no Yugehi no Moriya, son of Mononobe no Okoshi and the current Ohomuraji of the Mononobe family, remonstrated Nunakura over this whole Buddhism thing.  Just as Okoshi had done decades previously, Moriya claimed that the whole reason that there was an epidemic in the first place was because they had once again welcomed Buddhism into the land, and that they needed to put a stop to it.  Nunakura was swayed by his arguments, and he took back what he had said and issued an edict that demanded that the worship of Buddhism cease. Here we see, once again, the destruction of the Buddhist temple, but this time around we are given much greater detail.  For one thing, Moirya seems to have taken rather a lot of pride in this.  He went to the temple with his men, sat down in a chair, and from there he oversaw the destruction of the pagoda, the temple, and even the stone image.  Whatever couldn't be destroyed was taken to the Naniwa canal and thrown into the waters. As he did all of this, the Chroniclers record that there was wind and rain, but no clouds, not quite unlike the idea of a fox's wedding—an interesting phenomenon where you can have the sun, usually in the morning or late afternoon, shining at the same time that rainclouds overhead are opening up the heavens are pouring down. Moriya simply donned a raincoat, and then he upbraided Soga no Umako and all of his followers, trying to shame them.  He then had Sukune call forward the various nuns, who were stripped of their “three garments”, a term for the traditional Buddhist robes, although in East Asia this was eventually replaced with the single kesa over several lower garments, to help fend off the cold.  Here it is unclear if just a kesa is meant, or if they were dressed in an attempt at clothing from the Indian continent.  The nuns were then imprisoned and flogged at the roadside station of Tsubaki no Ichi, otherwise known as the Tsubaki Market. Despite thus cleansing the land of Buddhist influence for the second time, the pestilence didn't stop, and people continued to grow ill and die.  In fact, there was an embassy planned to talk about the Nimna situation once again, but both the sovereign, Nunakura, as well as Mononobe no Moriya himself, became ill and were afflicted with sores.  Once again, the land was plagued and people were dying.  According to the Chroniclers, who were, of course, writing after the fact in a well-established Buddhist state, the people started to privately complain that clearly Buddhism hadn't been the problem.  In fact, perhaps Soga no Umako's diviner had been correct all along and the plague was actually because they *hadn't* accepted Buddhism, rather than a punishment for neglecting the local kami. A few months later, Soga no Umako sent another message to the sovereign.  He was still ill, and hadn't recovered, even with Moriya “purging” the influences of Buddhism.  Umako claimed that the only things that would cure him were the Three Precious Things, which is to say the Sanzou, or the Three Treasures of Buddhism:  The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.  Based on the severity of the disease, Nunakura authorized him to worship privately, and the nuns were allowed to assist him.  He rebuilt the temple and he provided for the nuns, himself.  Eventually, Umako recovered, but unfortunately, the sovereign did not.  Nunakura Futodamashiki, aka Bidatsu Tennou, died in 585, laid low by the plague that had swept through the land. At the funeral, the politics were on full display.  Soga no Umako had no love lost for Mononobe no Moriya, nor vice versa.  As Umako was delivering a speech, Moriya made a comment that with his extremely long sword at his side, Umako looked like a fat little sparrow that had been pierced through by a hunting shaft.  Meanwhile, Umako noted that Moriya was shaking as he gave his speech—whether from emotion, nerves, or something else we don't know—and so Umako suggested hanging bells on him, so that they would jingle as he shook.  From this rap battle on out, the feud between the Mononobe and the Soga would only grow. There is another account of all of this, buried amongst everything else, that claims that Mononobe no Moriya, Ohomiwa no Sakahe no Kimi, and Nakatomi no Iware no Muraji all conspired together to destroy the Buddhist religion.  They wanted to burn the temple and pagoda that Soga no Umako had built, but Umako opposed the project and would not allow it, or so we are told.  Here it is unclear if we are talking about the previous temple or the rebuilt one, but the names here are interesting.  Of course we know that the Soga and the Mononobe were going at it, and the inclusion of Nakatomi no Iware simply picks up the previous alliance between the Mononobe and Nakatomi, both of whom had been active during the assault on Soga Iname's temple.  Lastly, though, there is Ohomiwa no Sakahe no Kimi, which is interesting.  This figure would appear to be from the Ohomiwa family and region, likely drawing some amount of respect from their connection with Mt. Miwa itself, and the ancient worship that went on there.  So, in this version there really is a triple threat of “the old guard” banding together to resist this newfangled foreign faith. Incidentally, this same figure, Ohomiwa no Sakahe no Kimi, also appears just after the death of Nunakura, when Prince Anahobe figured he could just waltz in and take the throne on the assumption that he was owed it by birth.  He was a half-brother to Nunakura, son of Ame Kunioshi and his mother, Wonanegimi, who was another daughter of Soga no Iname.  Anahobe was therefore nephew to Umako, and perhaps that is one of the reasons he thought he could just waltz in and take his seat at the head of government.  But Prince Anahobe was foiled by none other than Ohomiwa no Sakahe, who posted a guard around the palace and made sure that nobody defiled it until a new sovereign had been identified by the court.  Anahobe voiced his complaint that Ohomiwa was protecting the court of a “dead king”, and that they should instead come to the court of a “living king”—presumably he meant his own. But that will take us past this point, and there are still some other details of Nunakura or Bidatsu's reign I want to touch on, such as his dealings on the continent, but here we can see how Buddhism and the feud between the Soga and the Mononobe was in full swing, and that will definitely play a large part in future episodes.  In addition, we'll see how this time, Umako wouldn't take things lying down.  He was going to get this Buddhism thing to stick one way or the other, and we'll see what happens when he finally founds the first permanent temple in Japan; a temple that, while perhaps not as grand as it once was, continues to operate into the modern day. Until then, thank you for listening and for all of your support.  If you like what we are doing, tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to Tweet at us at @SengokuPodcast, or reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

Ensinamento de hoje: "Relação entre Kanzeon Bossatsu, Koomyo Nyorai, Messias e Miroku"

This episode we talk about the first recorded instance of Buddhism--or at least the worship of the Buddha--in Japan, and we look at some of the politics and issues surrounding its adoption, as well as some of the problems in the story we have from the Chronicles.  We also look at what legend says happened to the oldest Buddhist image and where you can find it, today.  Hint: It is in a place that once hosted the Winter Olympics! For more check out our podcast website:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-85 Rough Transcript:   Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 85: The Buddha Comes to Japan. Last couple episodes we've talked about Buddhism.  We talked about its origins in the Indian subcontinent, with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, aka Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, and how those teachings spread out from India to Gandhara, and then followed the trade routes across the harsh deserts of the Tarim Basin, through the Gansu corridor, and into the Yellow and Yangzi River Valleys.  From there the teachings made it all the way to the Korean peninsula, and to the country of Baekje, Yamato's chief ally on the peninsula. This episode we'll look at how Buddhism came to the archipelago and its initial reception there.  For some of this we may need to span several reigns, as we'll be looking at events from early to late 6th century.  This is also about more than just religion, and so we may need to dive back into some of the politics we've covered up to this point as well.  Hopefully we can bring it all together in the end, but if it is a bit of a bumpy ride, just hang with me for a bit. So let's start with the official account in the Nihon Shoki, which we already mentioned two episodes ago: the first mention of Buddhism in the Chronicles.  The year was 552, or the 13th year in the reign of Ame Kunioshi, aka Kimmei Tennou.  That winter, during the 10th month—which was probably closer to December or January on a modern calendar—King Seongmyeong of Baekje had a special gift for his counterpart, the sovereign of Yamato.  By this time there are numerous accounts of gifts to Yamato, generally in conjunction with the Baekje-Yamato alliance and Baekje's requests for military support in their endeavors on the peninsula, generally framed in the Yamato sources as centering on the situation of the country of Nimna. In this case, the gift was a gilt-bronze image of Shakyamuni Buddha, several flags and umbrellas, and a number of volumes of Buddhist sutras.  King Seongmyeong sent a memorial explaining his intent:  “This doctrine” (aka Buddhism) “is amongst all doctrines the most excellent.  But it is hard to explain, and hard to comprehend.  Even the Duke of Zhou and Confucius had not attained to a knowledge of it.  This doctrine can create religious merit and retribution with appreciation of the highest wisdom.  Imagine a man in possession of treasures to his heart's content, so that he might satisfy all his wishes in proportion as he used them.  Thus it is with the treasure of this wonderful doctrine.  Every prayer is fulfilled and naught is wanting.  Moreover, from distant India it has extended hither to the three Han, where there are none who do not receive it with reverence as it is preached to them. “Thy servant, therefore, Myeong, King of Baekje, has humbly dispatched his retainer, Nuri Sacchi, to transmit it to the Imperial Country, and to diffuse it abroad throughout the home provinces, so as to fulfil the recorded saying of Buddha: ‘My law shall spread to the East.' “ Upon receiving all of these things and hearing the memorial, we are told that the sovereign, Ame Kunioshi, literally leapt for joy.  He thanked the envoys, but then put the question to his ministers as to how they should proceed.  Soga no Iname no Sukune, holding the position of Oho-omi, recommended that they should worship the statue of the Buddha.  After all, if all of the “Western Frontier lands” were worshipping it, then should Yamato really be left out? On the other side of the argument were Mononobe no Okoshi as well as Nakatomi no Kamako.  They argued against stopping the traditional worship of the 180 kami of Heaven and Earth and replacing it with worship of some foreign religion. With this split decision, Ame Kunioshi decided to have Soga no Iname experiment, first.  He told him to go ahead and worship the image and see what happens. And so Soga set it up at his house in Oharida, purified it, and, per Buddhist tradition, retired from the world.  He had another house, in nearby Mukuhara, purified and made into a temple.  Here he began to worship the Buddha. Around that same time, there was a pestilence—a disease—that was in the land.  People were getting sick and some were dying.  This was likely not unprecedented.  Healthcare was not exactly up to our modern standards, and while many good things traveled the trade routes, infection and disease likely used them as pathways as well.  So diseases would pop up, on occasion.  In this instance, though, Mononobe no Okoshi and Nakatomi no Kamako seized on it as their opportunity.  They went to Ame Kunioshi and they blamed Soga no Iname and his worship of the Buddha for the plague. Accordingly, the court removed the statue of the Buddha and tossed it into the canal at Naniwa, and then they burned down Soga no Iname's temple—which, as you may recall, was basically his house.  As soon as they did that, though, Ame Kunioshi's own Great Hall burst into flames, seemingly out of nowhere, as it was otherwise a clear day. Little more is said about these events, but that summer there were reports from Kawachi of Buddhist chants booming out of the sea of Chinu near the area of Idzumi.  Unate no Atahe was sent to investigate and found an entire log of camphorwood that was quote-unquote “Shining Brightly”.  So he gave it to the court, where we are told they used it to have two Buddha images made, which later were installed in a temple in Yoshino; presumably at a much later date. And then the Chronicles go quiet for the next couple decades, at least on the subject of Buddhism, but this is the first official account of it coming over, and there is quite a bit to unpack.  For one thing, the memorials and speeches once again seem like something that the Chroniclers added because it fit with their understanding of the narrative, including their insistence that Yamato was a fully fledged imperial state, and there is some fairly good evidence that King Seongmyeong's memorial is clearly anachronistic.  But there are a few other things, and conflicting records on things such as dates and similar. So first off, let's acknowledge that there are too many things in the main narrative in the Chronicles that are just questionable, such as the sovereign “leaping with joy” at the chance to hear about Buddhism, and the fact that King Seongmyeong's memorial apparently quotes a part of the sutra of the Sovereign Kings of Golden Light, known in Japanese as the Konkoumyou-saishou-ou-kyou, but that translation wasn't done until 703, during the Tang dynasty, by the monk Yijing in the city of Chang'an.  While it would have been known to knowledgable monks like Doji, who may have been helping put the narrative together in 720, it is unlikely that it was in use during the 6th century, when the memorial is said to have been written. In addition, there is question about the date that all of this supposedly happened.  The Nihon Shoki has this event taking place in 552, well into the reign of Ame Kunioshi.  However, there are at least two 8th century sources, roughly contemporary with the writing of the Nihon Shoki, the Gangoji Garan Engi and the Jouguuki, and both of these put the date at 538, a good fourteen years earlier, and in the era of Ame Kunioshi's predecessor, Takewo Hiro Kunioshi, aka Senka Tenno.  The first of these, the Gangoji Garan Engi, is a record of the founding of the first permanent temple in Japan, Gangoji, aka Hokoji or, informally, Asukadera, which was founded by Soga no Iname's heir, Soga no Umako.  More on the temple itself, later, but for now we want to focus on the historical aspects of this account, which mostly corroborate the story, talking about Soga no Iname's role in receiving the image and enshrining it, as well as the early conflict between the Soga clan and their rivals.  The other source, the Joguki, focuses on the life of Shotoku Taishi, aka Prince Umayado, who will become a major subject of our narrative at the end of the 6th and early 7th centuries.  Not only is he considered the father of Japanese Buddhism, but he had strong connections to the Soga family.  Today, most scholars accept the 538 date over the 552 date when talking about Buddhism's initial arrival into the islands   If the Chroniclers did move the event from 538 to 552, one has to wonder why.  This isn't a simple matter of being off by 60 years, and thus attributable to a mistake in the calendrical sexagenary zodiac cycle of stems and branches, so there must have been something else.  One suggestion is that the date conflicted with the chronology that had already been set for the sovereigns.  538 is during the reign of Takewo no Ohokimi, aka Senka Tenno, but what if succession was not quite as cut and dried as all that?  What if Ame Kunioshi no Ohokimi had his own court and was in some way ruling at the same time as his half-brothers, Magari no Ohine and Takewo no Ohokimi? They were from different mothers, and thus different factions at court.  Ame Kunioshi was young, so it was possible that there were rival lineages attempting to rule, or even some kind of co-ruler deal hearkening back to more ancient precedent.  Some even theorize that Magari no Ohine and Takewo Hiro Kunioshi were simply fictional inserts to help span the period between Wohodo and Ame Kunioshi. Whatever the reason, this theory suggests that it would not have happened in the 13th year of Ame Kunioshi's reign, but that his reign started in 526, rather than 540.  An intriguing hypothesis, but one that begs the question of whether everything in the reign would then need to be shifted to account for that.  Given that there are a few attributable events noted that fit with outside sources as well, that doesn't seem quite as plausible without some very conscious efforts to change the timeline. Another thought is that the compilers weren't sure exactly when this event happened, but given Ame Kunioshi's reputation and long reign, they chose his reign to place it in because it just fit.  I suspect that this happened more than once, with people more likely attributing past events to well-remembered sovereigns.  If this is the case, then when searching for a date they may have just chosen one that seemed auspicious.  In this case, 552 CE was, in some reckonings, an important year in Buddhist history, as there were those who say it as the beginning of the age of “mappou”, the “End of the Law” or perhaps the “Latter days of the Law”. This definitely is an intriguing theory, and resonates strongly.  For most of Japanese history, the idea that we are in this period of “mappo” has had a strong influence, and to a certain extent it is kind of an apocalyptic view of things.  The idea of mappo is that while the Buddha was alive, his teachings were fresh and available to all living things.  However, after his death, his teachings had to be remembered and passed on.  Even with the advent of writing, the meaning and understanding of his teachings, and thus an understanding of dharma, would also atrophy.  Different translations, changes in meaning, and just bits and pieces lost to time would mean that for the first 500 to 1,000 years, the Buddha's disciples would keep things well and the meaning would be protected, but in the next 500 to 1,000 years things would decline, but still be pretty close to the truth.  Then – and this is when the period of “mappo” starts - things would really start to decline, until finally, about 5,000 to 10,000 years later—or about 1,000 to 12,000 years after the time of the historical Buddha—things would break down, factions would be fighting one another, and eventually everyone would have forgotten the dharma entirely.  It was only then that there would come a new Buddha, Miroku or Maitreya, who would once again teach about the dharma and how to escape suffering, and the whole cycle would start again. The year 552 would have coincided, according to some estimates, with 1,000 years since the time of Siddhartha Gautama, and so it would have had particular significance to the people of that time, particularly if you counted each of the first two Ages as 500 years each, meaning that the word of the Buddha, that his teachings would spread to the East, would have been completed just as we entered the latter days of the Law. Regardless of the time—and, as I said earlier, 538 is the more accepted date—the general events described – the statue, the offer of Soga to experiment, and the resulting events - are usually agreed to, although even here we must pause, slightly and ask a few questions. First off, was this truly the first time that Buddhism had ever shown up in Japan?  The answer to that is probably not.  There had been many waves of immigrants that had come over to Japan from the peninsula, and even if only a small handful of them had adopted the new religion before coming over it is likely that there were pockets of worshippers.  Later, we will see that there are people in Japan who are said to have had prior experience as a monk, or who had their own Buddhist images.  These images were probably used by people in their homes—there is no evidence of any particular temples that had been built, privately or otherwise, and so there is no evidence that we have any active monks or nuns in the archipelago, but who knows what was going on in communities outside of the elite core?  There were plenty of things that were never commented on if it wasn't directly relevant to the court. Furthermore, with all of the envoys that had been to Baekje, surely some of them had experience with Buddhism.  And then there were the envoys *from* Baekje, who no doubt brought Buddhist practices with them.  So there was likely some kind of familiarity with the religion's existence, even if it wasn't necessarily fully understood. The second point that many people bring up is the role of the sovereign, Ame Kunioshi, or whomever was in charge at the time that the first image came over.  While the Nihon Shoki attempts to portray a strong central government with the sovereign at its head, we've already seen how different households had arisen and taken some measure of power for themselves.  At the end of the 5th and into the early 6th century, the Ohotomo and Mononobe houses were preeminent, with Ohotomo Kanamura taking on actions such as negotiating dealings with the continent and even manuevering around the Crown Prince.  The Mononobe wielded considerable authority through their military resources, and now, the Soga appeared to ascendant.  It is quite possible that the idea of the sovereign giving any sort of permission or order to worship Buddhism is simply a political fig leaf added by the Chroniclers.  The Soga may have been much more independent in their views and dealings.  To better understand this, let's take a look at the uji family system and the Soga family in particular. Now the Nihon Shoki paints a picture as though these noble uji families were organic, and simply part of the landscape, descending from the kami in the legendary age, with lineages leading down to the present day, although there is some acknowledgment that the earliest ancestors did not necessarily use the family names until a later date.  For much of Japanese history, the concept that these family, or uji, were one of the core building blocks of ancient Japanese political and cultural spheres is taken as a matter of course.  However, in more modern studies, this view has been questioned, and now the prevailing view is that these families are somewhat different.  In fact, the uji are likely just as much an artificial construct as the corporate -Be family labor groups. According to this theory, early on people were associated with local groups and places.  Outside of the immediate family, groups were likely held together by their regional ties as much as anything else.  Names appear to be locatives, with ancient titles indicating the -hiko or -hime of this or that area. Some time in the 5th century, Yamato—and possibly elsewhere in the peninsula—began to adopt the concept of -Be corporate groups from Baekje.  We talked about this back in Episode 63, using the Hata as a prime example of how these groups were brought together.  More importantly, though, was that each of these -Be groups reported to someone in the court, sometimes with a different surname.  These were the uji, created along with the -Be to help administer the labor and work of running the state.  They were essentially arms of the state itself, in many ways.  The kabane system of titles emphasizes this, with different families having different ranks depending on what they did, whether locally, regionally, or at the central court.  Some of these titles, like -Omi and -Kimi, were likely once actual jobs, but eventually it came to represent something more akin to a social ranking. There have been some questions and emails asking for a bit more in depth on this, and I'd really like to, but I'm afraid that would be too much for now.  At the moment I want to focus more on the uji, particularly on those at the top - the uji with the kabane of either Omi or Muraji, as these are the ones most likely to be helping to directly run the government.  They even had their own geographical areas within the Nara basin, and elsewhere, that were uji strongholds.  The Hata had areas near modern Kyoto, the Mononobe clearly had claims to land around Isonokami, in modern Tenri, and the Soga clan had their holdings in the area of modern Asuka and Kashihara city.  At the very least, that is where Soga no Iname's house was—in Mukuhara and Oharida, both located in the modern area of Asuka, which will become important in the future. It wasn't just the landholdings that were important, though.  Each uji had some part to play in the functioning of the government.  In many cases it was the production or control of a particular service, such as the Hata and silk weaving, or the Mononobe and their affinity with all things military.  For the Soga, they appear to have had a rather interesting portfolio. Traditionally, the Soga family is said to trace its lineage back to Takechi no Sukune, the first Oho-omi back in the time of Okinaga no Tarashi Hime and Homuda Wake no Ohokimi—see episode 46 for more on him.  That lineage is likely fabricated, however, and the earliest actual evidence for the family may be from the Kogoshui, where we are told that Soga no Machi was put in charge of the Three Treasuries.  These were the Imikura, or sacred treasury; the Uchikura, or royal household treasury; and the Ohokura, the government treasury.  This seems like quite the position of responsibility, and it would fit with some of what we see later as the Soga are involved in helping set up Miyake, the various royal storehouses across the land that acted as Yamato court administrative centers for the purposes of collecting goods and funneling them to the court, as well as keeping an eye on the local regions.  Although here I feel I would be remiss if I didn't also note that the “Three Treasuries”, or “Sanzou” is one way to translate the Tripitaka, and given the Soga's role, I don't think I can entirely ignore that point. So the Soga family had experience with administration, and specifically they were dealing with a variety of different goods produced in different regions.  If that is the case, then their authority did not necessarily derive from the standard uji-be constructed familial connections, but rather they were deriving positional authority from the central government itself.  This may seem like common sense to us, but in the world of ancient Yamato, where family connections were everything, this may have been something new and innovative—and very in keeping with various continental models of administration.  It is quite likely that the Soga were dealing with some of the latest innovations in government and political authority, which would also have opened them up to the possibility of new ideas. In addition, their position meant they likely had wide-ranging contacts across the archipelago and even onto the peninsula.  The Soga themselves have connections to the peninsula in the names of some of their members, such as Soga no Karako, where “Karako” can be translated as a “Son of Kara” or a “Son of Gaya”, possibly referring to their origins, and Soga no Kouma, where “Kouma” is a general term for Goguryeo, and so quite possibly indicates a connection with them as well.  On top of that, there is a now-out-of-favor theory that once suggested that Soga no Machi might be the same as Moku Machi, an important Baekje official in the late 5th century.  While that has been largely discredited, the fact that “Machi” is possibly of Baekje origin cannot be entirely overlooked. Then there are a series of notes in the Nihon Shoki, particularly surrounding the area of Shirai, in the land of Kibi.  These start in 553, just one year after Soga no Iname's failed attempt to launch a Buddhist temple, at least according to the Nihon Shoki's record of events.  It is a relatively simple note, but it mentions how Soga no Iname made a man by the name of Wang Jinnie the “Funa no Fubito”, or “Recorder of Ships”, and put him in charge of the shipping tax—all at the behest of the sovereign, of course. Later, in 555, Soga no Iname went with Hozumi no Iwayumi no Omi to Kibi, where they consolidated five districts, or agata, under the administration of a single administrative Miyake in Shirawi.  Later, in 556, he would go back to Kibi and establish a Miyake in Kojima, putting in place Katsuraki no Yamada as the Tazukai, or “rural rice field governor”.  That same year he and others went to the Takachi district in Yamato and established the Miyake of Ohomusa, or “Great Musa”, for immigrants from Baekje and then Womusa, or “Small Musa”, for immigrants from Goguryeo. In 569, the person that Soga no Iname had put in charge of recording the ships, Wang Jinnie, had a nephew, Itsu—or possibly Danchin, depending on how you read it—go out to Shirawi to take a census.  This is the same Shirawi that Soga no Iname had helped establish in 555.  Itsu becomes the Shirawi no Obito, and in 574 we see Soga no Umako, Iname's heir, heading out to Shirawi with an updated register for Itsu. So, in short, the Soga family clearly is doing a lot of government administration, and particularly of the Miyake, which is the extension of the court authority into the rest of the archipelago.  On top of that, look at how often the names that are coming up in conjunction with what they are doing are referencing immigrant groups.  Even the Hozumi family are known at this point for their work on the peninsula, and we see the Soga heavily involved with the Wang family and their fortunes, not to mention Greater and Lesser Musa and the Baekje and Goguryeo individuals there.  Wang Jinnie will have even more of a part to play, but we'll hold onto that for later. Given everything we can see about how they are operating, is it any surprise that the Soga would advocate in favor of Buddhism?  I'd also note that, while other clans have clear connections to heavenly ancestors and kami whom they worshipped, it is unclear to me if the Soga had anything similar.  There is mention in the 7th century of the creation of a shrine to their titular ancestors, Takeuchi no Sukune and Ishikawa no Sukune, and today there is a shrine that is dedicated to Soga tsu Hiko and Soga tsu Hime—Basically just lord and lady Soga.  But there isn't anything like the spirit of Futsunushi or Ohomononushi, let alone an Amaterasu or Susano'o. Why is that important?  Well, prior to the 6th century, a lot of clans claimed authority from the ritual power they were perceived to wield, often related to the prestige of their kami.  One of the ways that Yamato influence had spread was through the extension of the Miwa cult across the archipelago, and there were even members of the Himatsuribe and the Hioki-be, basically groups of ritualists focused on sun worship, which upheld the royal house.  The Mononobe controlled Isonokami shrine, where they worshipped their Ujigami, Futsu-mitama, the spirit of the sound of the sword.  And then there were the Nakatomi, who haven't had much to do in the narrative so far, but we know that they were court ritualists, responsible for ensuring that proper rituals were carried out by the court for the kami to help keep balance in the land. The dispute between the Soga and the Mononobe and Nakatomi is presented as a struggle between a foreign religion and the native kami of Japan—leaving aside any discussion, for now, about just how “native” said kami actually were.  This is, in fact, the primary story that gets told again and again, that the Mononobe and Nakatomi were simply standing up for their beliefs, sincerely believing that if too many people started worshipping foreign gods then it would supplant the worship already present in the islands. And that may have been a genuine fear at the time, but I would suggest that it was only a small one.  What seems more apparent is that we are really looking at just an old fashioned power struggle.  Because what all of the information we have about the Soga distills down to is: they were the new kid on the block.  The Soga were the up and coming nobility.  They had connections with the continent and various immigrant groups.  That gave them access to new ideas and new forms of resources.  The Mononobe were built on a more traditionalist line.  They had been around, ever since at least Wakatake no Ohokimi, playing a significant role in things, alongside the Ohotomo.  The Mononobe were at their apex, claiming descent through their own Heavenly Grandson, and having held sway at court through numerous reigns at this point.   They represent, in many ways, the old guard. Worship of a fancy new religious icon—effectively a new kami—threatened to give the Soga even more power and sway.  They already had control of the three treasuries, if the Kogoshui is to be believed, and likely had a rather impressive administrative apparatus.  Soga no Iname had also ended up successfully marrying off two of his daughters to Ame Kunioshi, making him father-in-law to the current sovereign.  If he added to that a spiritual focus that people came to believe in, that would only enhance the Soga's power and place in the hierarchy. And what better way to taint all of that, and neutralize these upstarts, than to blame this new god for the plague and pestilence that was killing people.  We see it all too often, even today—when people are scared and when there are problems, the easiest people to scapegoat are the foreigners and the outsiders.  Those whom we do not see as “us”.  It was probably easy to turn the court against Buddhism, at least initially.  They threw the image in the canal and burned down the temple, and no doubt they were pleased with themselves. But that was merely the opening salvo, and as we'll see in the coming years, the Soga family were hardly done with Buddhism.  One can argue whether they were truly devout or if this was merely for political gain, but the Soga family tied themselves to this new foreign religion, for good or for ill, and they wouldn't be pushed around forever. When next we touch base on this topic we'll look at Soga no Iname's heir, Soga no Umako, and his attempts to start up where his father left off.  He would again clash with the Mononobe, and the outcome of that conflict would set the path for the next half a century.  It would also see Buddhism become firmly enmeshed with the apparatus of the state.  As this happens , we'll also see the character of Buddhist worship in the archipelago change.  Initially, the Buddha was treated little differently from any other kami, and based on the way it is described, probably worshiped in a very similar manner.  However, as more sutras came to light and as more people studied and learned about the religion—and as more immigrants were brought in to help explain how things were supposed to work—Buddhism grew in the islands to be its own distinct entity.  In fact the growth of Buddhism would even see the eventual definition of “Shinto”, the “Way of the Gods”, a term that was never really needed until there was another concept for native practices to be compared against. Before we leave off, there is one other story I'd like to mention.  It is tangential to our immediate discussion of Buddhism and the Soga, but I think you may find it of interest, nonetheless.  This is the story of just what happened—supposedly—to that first Buddhist icon that was tossed into the Naniwa canal. Because you see, according to tradition, that gilt-bronze icon did not stay stuck in the mud and muck of the canal, nor did it just disappear.  Instead there is a tradition that it was found almost a century later.  The person who retrieved it was named Honda no Yoshimitsu, and from Naniwa he traveled all the way to Shinano, to the area of modern Nagano, and there he would found a temple in 642.  Another reading of his name, Yoshimitsu, is Zenko, and so the temple is named Zenkoji, and you can still go and visit it today.  In fact, the main hall of Zenkoji is considered a national treasure, and it was featured prominently during the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.  It is a popular attraction for tourist both in Japan and from abroad, and if you get a chance I highly recommend going to see it.  On the street leading up to the temple entrance are many traditional shops that still sell various foods and traditional arts and crafts, and there are many intriguring features.  For example, there is a narrow walkway underneath the main temple that is completely dark, where you are meant to feel along the wall to try to find the key to enlightenment, a kind of physical metaphor of Buddhist teaching. And of course there is the icon that Honda Yoshimitsu is said to have fished out of the canal. According to the temple, the icon still exists, and many worshippers believe it to be the oldest extant Buddhist icon in Japan, even older than the icons at Horyuji.  However, there is one catch—nobody is allowed to see it.  Shortly after it was installed in the temple, the statue was hidden in a special container, or zushi, and it became what is known as a hidden Buddha.  This is a tradition particularly prevalent in Japan, where some Buddhas are hidden away and only brought out on very special occasions.  Some cynics might note that those occasions are often when the temple needs to raise funds.  As for this hidden Buddha, however, it has not been seen more than a handful of times since it was locked away in the 7th century. Despite that, we know what it looks like—or at least what it is supposed to look like.  The image is said to be a triad, and though the Nihon Shoki claims it was an image of Shakyamuni, the central figure of the Zenkoji triad is actually the figure of Amida, aka Amithabha, as in the Pure Land sect of Buddhism.  Amida Nyorai is flanked by two attendants.  We know all of this because a copy of the Zenkoji image was made in the Kamakura period, and that image, said to be a faithful recreation of the original is also kept at Zenkoji.  While the original is kept hidden in the back, the replica, which is thought to have all of the miraculous powers of the original, sits in front, and is therefore called the Maedachi Honzon, basically the image standing in front, vice the original, the Gohonzon, the main image. Except it gets even better, because the replica is *also* kept hidden away most of the time, and only revealed on special occasions, known as Gokaicho, or “opening of the curtain”, which occurs once every seven years. The Zenkoji triad became extremely important in later centuries, and copies were made and installed in sub-temples throughout Japan.  Even today you may find a Zenkoji-style triad here or there, each one considered to have a spiritual tie back to the original, and some of them even have inscriptions confirming that they are, indeed, Zenkoji style triads Of course, the big question remains: does the original image actually still exist, and is there any chance that it actually is as old as it claims to be?  There really is no good way of knowing.  Zenkoji is not offering to open up the zushi any time soon.  We do know a few things, however.  We know that the temple has burned down at least 11 times over the years, and the Gohonzon was rescued each time, or so they say.  There are some who claim that it still exists, but perhaps it is damaged.  If that is the case, how did they make the replica, though? There was an inspection during the Edo period.  There was a rumor that it had been stolen, and so an Edo official was sent to check on the status.  They reported that it was still there, but crucially they never described actually laying eyes on the statue.  In one account where a monk did open the box it is said that their was a blinding light—kind of like the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones but just overwhelming; no faces were melted, at least none that were reported. The monks of Zenkoji, when asked how they know the image is still there, will point to the weight of the container, which, when lifted, is apparently considerable.  They say that is how they know it is still there.  Of course, a melted lump of metal might be the same weight as it was when it was full statue, as long as it didn't lose any actual mass, so it is hard to tell if it is still in good condition. Even with all of that, there is the question about the veracity of the original objects lineage to begin with.  Did Honda Yoshimitsu really just find *the* original statue?  And even if he did, how would he have known what it was?  Was there an inscription:  To Yamato, from Baekje, hugs and kisses? I've yet to see anyone directly compare the purported replica with other statues, but I suspect that would be the route to at least check the age, but nobody seems to be saying that the style of the replica is blatantly wrong for a 6th or 7th century icon from the peninsula or by peninsular craftsmen.  Then again, there were plenty of local immigrants in the Naniwa area who could have potentially crafted an image.  Indeed, the area around modern Nagano even has traces of Goguryeo style burial cairns, possibly from immigrants settled out there to help with early horse cultivation, and so there is even the possibility that there were locals with the connections and skills to craft something. If you really want to know more, there is an entire work by Donald McCallum, titled “Zenkoji and Its Icon”, on not just the icon but the entire worship that sprang up around it and caused copies to spread throughout the archipelago. And that's where we will leave off for this episode.  In the next couple of episodes I want to finish up some of the secular history of this reign, and look a little bit outside of Yamato and the evidence in the Chronicles as well. Until then, thank you for listening and for all of your support.  If you like what we are doing, tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to Tweet at us at @SengokuPodcast, or reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Sango get a proposition for marriage and Kagome tries to goad Miroku into stopping this from happening.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Miroku run really fast, Koga get his shards back, and bad things happen to Kagura.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Miroku get back up to his old tricks as he tries to get with a bunch of ladies.

Bright on Buddhism Episode 36 - Who is Maitreya/Mile/Miroku? What are some stories about him? What sort of devotional texts/rituals are there for him? Resources: Kevin Trainor: Buddhism: An Illustrated Guide; Donald Lopez: Norton Anthology of World Religions: Buddhism; Chan Master Sheng Yen: Orthodox Chinese Buddhism; The Bodhisattva Vow: A Practical Guide to Helping Others, page 1, Tharpa Publications (2nd. ed., 1995) ISBN 978-0-948006-50-0; Flanagan, Owen (2011-08-12). The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized. MIT Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-262-29723-3.; Williams, Paul, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, Routledge, 2008.; Robert Buswell, Encyclopedia of Buddhism - Maitreya, Alan Sponberg; Horner, IB, ed. (1975). The minor anthologies of the Pali canon. Volume III: Buddhavaṁsa (Chronicle of Buddhas) and Cariyāpiṭaka (Basket of Conduct). London: Pali Text Society. ISBN 0-86013-072-X.; Mipham, Jamgon; Maitreya; Shenga, Khenpo; Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. (2013). Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham. Snow Lion. ISBN 978-1-55939-502-1.; Iida, Shōtarō; Goldston, Jane, trans. (2016). Descent of Maitreya Buddha and his Enlightenment, (Taishō Volume 14, Number 454), Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.; Mipham, Jamgon; Maitreya; Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. (2021). Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham. Snow Lion. ISBN 978-1-55939-501-4.; Hurvitz, Leon. 1976. Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma. New York: Columbia University Press.; Kato, Bunno. 1971. The Threefold Lotus Sutra: Innumerable Meanings, The Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, and Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company.; Kern, H. 1884. 1963. Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka or The Lotus of the True Law. London: New York: Clarendon Press. Dover Publications. The Sacred Books of the East, Volume XXI; Kubo, Tsugunari and Akira Yuyama. 1993. The Lotus Sutra: The White Lotus of the Marvelous Law. Tokyo and Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research.; Murano, Senchū. 1974. 1991. The Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Tokyo: Nichiren Shu Shimbun.; Reeves, Gene. 2008. The Lotus Sutra. Boston: Wisdom Publications.; Soothill, W.E. 1930. The Lotus of the Wonderful Law or The Lotus Gospel: Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, Miao-fa Lien Hua Ching. Oxford: Clarendon Press.; Watson, Burton. 1993. The Lotus Sutra. New York: Columbia University Press.; Kitagawa, Joseph M. “The Career of Maitreya, with Special Reference to Japan.” History of Religions 21, no. 2 (1981): 107–25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062220.; McBride, Richard D. “The Cult of Maitreya.” In Domesticating the Dharma: Buddhist Cults and the Hwaom Synthesis in Silla Korea, 33–61. University of Hawai'i Press, 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqmqr.7.; Gold, Jonathan C. “VASUBANDHU'S YOGĀCĀRA: Enshrining the Causal Line in the Three Natures.” In Paving the Great Way: Vasubandhu's Unifying Buddhist Philosophy, 128–75. Columbia University Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/gold16826.9.; https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/miroku.shtml Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) sees another episode title lie to us as Inuyasha and Miroku get trapped in a poisonous cocoon.

This episode we talk Kaz about moving from Japan to California , The differences in the fishery's , Big baits and have some cool video break downs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Inuyasha get his sword repaired by getting a fang yanked out, Sesshomaru gets a new sword, and Miroku bonks a swordsmith.

※年末にアップした回が音質最悪だったため、撮り直して再アップしております。 旅先の奈良でクラフトジンを完全に理解した話です。 ■cuup https://instagram.com/cuup ■クィア・アイ season6 最終話 https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/80160037?s=i&trkid=13747225&vlang=ja&clip=81519085 ■140. 盛らない下着界隈 https://podcasts.apple.com/jp/podcast/%E5%B8%B8%E5%A4%8F/id1457505104?i=1000545921913 ■31. 日中韓ヒップホップあれこれ https://podcasts.apple.com/jp/podcast/%E5%B8%B8%E5%A4%8F/id1457505104?i=1000445284018 ■OSUZU GIN https://osuzuyama.co.jp/store/products/detail/37 ■小倉ヒラク『発酵文化人類学』 http://www.kirakusha.com/smp/book/b286166.html ■MIROKU 奈良 https://www.thesharehotels.com/miroku/ ■KIKKA GIN https://www.hyotan.co.jp/cnt/other/kikka-gin.html https://yamato-distillery.jp/products.php ■桜尾ジン https://www.sakuraodistillery.com/sakurao/ ■なら泉勇齊 http://www.naraizumi.jp/sp/ ■稲乃花 http://www.naraizumi.jp/item/sp/inada/ みなさんぜひぜひメッセージください！！アンサー率100%です。どちらでも大丈夫ですが、フォームからいただければ嬉しいです。 好きな動物ベスト3は常に募集しています。 お便りフォーム↓ https://forms.gle/wXSBA35uY2UfjUga9 Twitter↓ https://twitter.com/tokonats_radio

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Miroku get himself in trouble with the rest of the group for his past actions and a little girl with a mirror decides to take some souls.

Talking Fukuyama sights today - 3 attractions in Hiroshima prefecture in the Fukuyama area. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/AGWbue1tiNU (https://youtu.be/AGWbue1tiNU) First stop at the well-known (for domestic tourists) fishing village of Tomonoura, then to the FPico Sports Facility, climbing wall, playground and sport event venue as well as an outdoor skatepark and riverside path facility. Then head into the hills to the amusement park called Miroku-no-Sato for family fun, light-up events, gardens, rides and unique features like its retro areas, games, and nostalgic journeys back in Japan's history. * JOIN the JJWalsh Supporters + buy me a coffee - your support keeps me going, thanks! **​ ~BuyMeACoffee~ https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbldMazlyZjZlN0M3OFh6cDJKeVBvZXZVLVk0UXxBQ3Jtc0tuZWRoUFFQdVJUdU9TZDZ6TUNEbHU3azJNak0yNTlfbWFURlExTk9zRENKOFpza3d2SDBJT21nSzliSlFYYXNQU0dRZVNlT2IwaHhSNGotSEVsbmFOb0pZb1NTbm02YkdKQkVfV1BqaUY1NDhvRk5HZw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buymeacoffee.com%2Fjjwalsh%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jjwalsh​​) ~HAPPS~ https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbmoydEVVSWhIWWt2OWwwT29IazVlRmVPVEdHUXxBQ3Jtc0tudi0yRDJtVTNhZkdDWTZIdFFHUnVGRlI1VUJnVVhIb0ljVlBmMi15aWRRTjdxRkNxRzZFcm9nc3o1dUV4RHk0V3g0YlVfTkp3UFQwSmZ6V29mdXluT1FURVpHVFplUnE0WGNxb1ZROEdJSkY2eEUzTQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fhapps.tv%2Finvite%2F%40JJWalsh%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B (https://happs.tv/invite/@JJWalsh​​)​ ~Ko-FI https://ko-fi.com/jjwalsh (https://ko-fi.com/jjwalsh) JOIN the support team on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbjRdeieOLGes008y_I9y5Q/join (YouTube Memberships) https://medium.com/@jjwalsh (Follow JJ on MEDIUM) SoundCloud sourced BGM thanks to Hikosaemon Support this podcast

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see once again, Miroku be too horny for his own good and nearly gets himself killed because of it.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see Inuyasha and the gang fight a giant water snake and Miroku be extra horny on main.

Episode 18: Browning Auto-5 Part of why I love old firearms so much is the history and romance that goes along with each particular gun. Many old firearms evoke feelings of nostalgia, memories of loved ones, and good times long gone. Is it the smell of a particular gun oil, or the lines of a gun that will spark these fond memories? I know people who grew up knowing only that grandad had a side by side- all they could remember was the shape of the gun. Then and now there are many side by side shotguns, which does not help identify WHAT side by side he had. For the topic of today's discussion, shape was everything. I am Joel Penkala, and this is 10 minutes on the Browning Auto-5. At one point in time, if you saw a gun shaped like a 1911, it was a Colt- an iconic gun in its own right and easily identifiable from other pistols of the day. Now, the Colt has been copied and remanufactured by so many makers that the shape no longer dictates the maker. For the Browning Auto-5, this is not the case. If you see an old shotgun with a squared-off receiver in the back, chances are its an A5. And even if its not a Browning A5, its a clone made when John Browning licensed his original design to Remington or Savage. And, far fewer of those versions of this classic autoloading shotgun were ever made. The A5 was one of John Browning's pet designs, which he regarded as one of his best. The Auto 5 was a 5 shot, semi-automatic shotgun, meaning that the cycling of each new round into the chamber was the result of capturing the energy from the previous shot. The idea might seem mundane to us these days as there are so many modern auto loaders on the market, but back when Browning invented the A5, it was the first shotgun of its kind, and one of the first semi-automatic guns commercially viable as well(rifle shotgun or pistol). It was in 1898 that John Browning set out to develop a semi-auto shotgun (the same year the Mauser 98 was developed which is food for thought that they were still perfecting bolt action rifles when Browning was coming up with an autoloading shotgun). Browning was said to have devised several versions of the auto to test, but he and companions settled on the long recoil version of the design as the most feasible.  Unlike many of todays autos, the A5's barrel moves along with the bolt during the normal cycle of operation. 4 shots are placed in the magazine tube, below the barrel, and one is put into the chamber. The gun is fired and the resulting force pushes both the barrel and bolt rearward together as a unit. Once at the end of their rearward travel, the bolt is held back by a mechanism attached to the rear of the lifter, while the barrel is driven forward by the large spring around the magazine tube. As the barrel moves forward and clears the spent case, it actuates both the ejection of the case, and initiates the lifter to raise the next round into position. The mechanism on the rear of the lifter releases the bolt, allowing it to move forward and bring the new round into the chamber in the barrel. There is a great video online- check it out- as I suspect my description here is likely a bit hard to follow unless you have recently taken apart an A5. The distinctive lines of the A5 are a result of needing to enclose all of the above inside the action. The Auto-5 has an aesthetic all its own. The top of the receiver is flush with the barrel and terminates at nearly a 90-degree angle at the back of the action. This angle drops down to where the stock lines meet the back of the action giving the rear of the gun a squared, yet still rounded look that can be seen from across a duck marsh or corn field earning it the name the Humpback Browning. One of the most innovative features of the A5 was the friction ring system that John Browning designed so that the gun could accommodate a variety of loads. Any semi-auto mechanism driven by the pressures of recoil must take into account that each shotgun load has a different amount of recoil or rearward force. Heavy loads = more force. Light loads are less force. Design a gun for light loads, and the heavy loads will overpower the mechanism and damage the gun. Design for heavy loads and light loads will not have enough force to cycle the gun properly. Browning saw to this with a system of friction rings that are integral to the proper function of the gun. The rings could be stacked in different configurations over the magazine tube, and in front of the mainspring, such that they would increase or decrease the amount of friction applied during cycling, applying more when needed for heavy rounds. This elegant solution made the A5 a very versatile and reliable gun. Much like his other designs, John Browning had little interest in manufacturing his own firearms and so approached both Winchester and Remington to produce his latest gun. Winchester would not agree to pay Browning royalties on the gun, and complications at Remington prevented a deal. Having been down this road before, Browning approached Fabrique National (FN) in Belgium, who promptly agreed to produce the shotgun. The first A5s rolled off the line in 1902, with production continuing until 1975. In a seemingly very familiar fashion (think Weatherby Mark 5) the production was moved from FN to Japan, where A5s were produced at the Miroku factory until 1998.  I mentioned before that Remington would produce the Remington 11, and Savage would have a crack at the gun in its Model 720, and though similar, these guns were slight modifications to the original Browning design. It is of note that Remington would produce A5's during the years of World War 2 along side its Model 11's, though once the war was over, production did shift back to FN in Belgium. The A5 I am holding is a bit of a unique one, although with 2.7 million made, it's hard to believe that mine is special beyond my own curiosity. It is a 16 gauge gun with a solid rib. It is an early manufactured gun, made in the late '20s, and is marked both Browning Arms Company Ogden Utah on the barrel and Fabrique National on the receiver. It is unrestored and I love the patina it carries. It shows proof marks on the bolt and action, which is something that I have always loved- maybe because it helps tell the story of a gun. The bolt and both largest screws on either side of the action are marked with the last three digits of the serial number; another cool feature of older guns when parts were made to fit THAT particular gun.  My A5 also has the earlier style safety - it is located at the front of the trigger guard and slides forward and backward- rather than the side to side of later versions of the same gun. Although a curiosity at first, the more I worked the sliding safety, the more natural it felt. Not to mention that it positioned your trigger finger nicely for the trigger pull that would follow. Much like guns of the same vintage the Browning and its clones the Remington 11 and Savage 720 would see service on the battlefield and with law enforcement. US-marked guns were used as guard weapons and for trench warfare, and trainers were used to introduce the concept of lead for gunners trying to shoot down enemy planes. Clyde Barrow used a cut-down version of an A5 during the infamous crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde. The venerable Auto 5 saw far more use in the fields and woods and became a staple at deer and duck camps. Because the production of the A5 spanned so many years, versions were available from the factory in all three most popular chamber lengths- early guns were 2 ½” followed by the standard 2 ¾” and eventually 3” magnum. The popularity of the A5 led to the development of Light and Super Lightweight models, though very few of the Super Lightweight were made.  A5 barrels came in several styles, including plane no rib, solid rib, and vent rib versions, and with a variety of fixed chokes. A5s would eventually adopt adjustable chokes, though not until later production years. Slug barrels were also available adding to the versatility of the gun.  Browning has recently reintroduced the A5, and though the gun looks somewhat like the original, the internals are very different than that of the original long recoil version. I haven't handled the new version myself, so until I do, I will hold off any comment on them.  It is undeniable that the Browning Auto 5 has found a place in the heart and hands of sportsmen and women across our country. And if you are still unconvinced about the popularity and status of the A5- go ask singer/songwriter Evan Felker of Turnpike Troubadors how he feels about his grandfather's Browning, or maybe just go listen to “The Housefire” by the Troubadors.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) see a certain brother return, villains team up to make Inuyasha’s life miserable, and Miroku has to deal with the bees.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) witness a painter think they’re more powerful than they actually are and Miroku continues to somehow know how to ride a bicycle.

Jared and Anne Ladyem (anneladyem.com) get some plot backstory and meet Miroku who is the epitome of being horny on main.

Ensinamento de hoje: "A construção do Mundo de Miroku"

Aloha Half-Demon Royalty! We react to Ep. 20 of Yashahime. The A-UN episode! Come listen to A-Un's recount of Setsuna's childhood. Also how Setsuna met Miroku and got her naginata. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates, anime anniversaries, and fandom events + https://twitter.com/FunUntitled + https://www.instagram.com/fununtitled/ Subscribe to our Youtube channel to listen to our Podcast AND watch a speed drawing of our thumbnails + https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQCi61PkguoTJKJr_shZCuQ Check out our Linktree for all our Accounts + https://linktr.ee/FunUntitled

More COVID-19 event cancellations to report, plus what's the issue with Mushoku Tensei, and Yashahime dub cast announces new voice for Miroku! Also Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train is now the second highest grossing film WORLDWIDE, Sailor Moon escape game hits Japan, and an online one for Hunter x Hunter too! Meanwhile in Japan, Olympics possibly moving to 2022, earthquake hits Japan, and a 21 year old arrested for sending nudes to an old woman?! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/animejamsession/support

Aloha Yashahime Half-Demon Royalty! Minty and Annie react to Episode of 13 of Yashahime. We talk about Hisui and Gyokuto's family relationship with Miroku and theories on the memorial stone that Sango was praying to. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates, anime anniversaries, and fandom events + https://twitter.com/FunUntitled + https://www.instagram.com/fununtitled/ Subscribe to our Youtube channel to listen our Podcast AND watch a speed drawing of our thumbnails + https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQCi61PkguoTJKJr_shZCuQ Check out our Linktree for all our Accounts + https://linktr.ee/FunUntitled

Hey there anime fans,  Here is another review, this time, covering Yashahime, the sequel to Inu Yasha.  Brief description of this episode: A mysterious half-demoness princess named Towa Higurashi was captured by a shogunate adviser from Kanto region, who inquires her about some items from the future in his possession, including a book from the Reiwa era and the seat from Kagome's bicycle, but Towa refuses to comply, certain that sharing info from the future will alter the past. The story then shifts back to six months after Kagome started living with Inuyasha and her other closest friends and their young children, two of which are identical twin sisters. Inuyasha and Miroku fight the Root Head, a demon who was sealed by Kikyo many decades ago. Music Credit: Yuki chill DJ  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/amnation/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/amnation/support

Miroku engages in futures trading and long-sells on Sango's virtue. Meanwhile, the Grima Wormtongue of the episode presumably gets away with a clutch of hypnoeggs. Eh, worth it. (Opening and Closing Theme: "Come (My Way)" English Version by AmaLee) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

An even more desperate situation is that Lindsay can't remember this episode a week after watching it! Marvel at Sean's ability to explain it to her while diverting to Hobbs & Shaw and Space Jam. This is the sort of quality content you tolerate! (Opening and Closing Theme: "Otome-domo yo" by ChiCO) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

Sound problems plague this newest episode of We View Yasha! But don't worry, it doesn't last too long! As in... the episode is our shortest yet... Sorry, Miroku, and anyone who thinks this is the best episode of the show! Which there has to be at least one of you, right? You love it when Miroku gets peed on? No judgment... (Opening and Closing Theme: "Otome-domo yo" by ChiCO) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

What do you call a love story between a half-demon dog and a dead dirt demon lady? InuYasha, the love story epic for the ages. Also, we discuss about the commando tendencies of our MCs again. This podcast episode recaps InuYasha 18 - 27.

The Snackrifice is finally here! Koga stealing yo girl! Miroku suffering from performance anxiety! Brothers, barely cooperating! It's a boss battle to end all boss battles. (Opening and Closing Theme: "Gimme Gimme Gimme" by Abba, Nightcore remix) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

The Tsubaki Saga enters its final phase as a score of monsters exits a pagoda. Botan and Momiji are there too, and boy... boy are they unsafe around Miroku. Sean wakes up halfway through the episode, thinks it's pronounced like "oh-gree." (Opening and Closing Theme: "'Torikago" by XX:Me' 8-bit remix by Lumena-tan) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

Sango befriends* some beautiful** sister apprentices*** and teaches them valuable lessons**** about life and murdering demons in cold blood. Miroku questions his definition of "boundaries."***** * No. ** No. *** No. ****No. *****No. (Opening and Closing Theme: "Hanazeve Caradhina" by Kevin Penkin (feat. Takeshi Saito)) ("Swordsmith, Totosai" by Kaoru Wada) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

Inuyasha learns the first of many Ultimate Techniques, in the first of many instances where he learns that he doesn't need his father. Miroku continues to crush. (Opening and Closing Theme: "Hanazeve Caradhina" by Kevin Penkin (feat. Takeshi Saito)) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

Miroku rolls a 7 at Convincing Party to Build Tower, but a natural 20 at Kidnapping Inuyasha Come Daybreak. (Opening and Closing Inuyasha harp cover by Xingni Xiao) (Logo Design by @GeeMoree)

It's been awhile since we've checked in on Miroku. What is his tragic backstory? How's that Wind Tunnel doing? Is he still a sex weirdo? Does he have a new finishing move? Find out nnnnnnoowwwww. Shippoformance: 58% Fanny Grab: 1 Player of the Game: Hachi (Opening and Closing theme "My Will" by Gabriela Vega) (Image by MaramaTsg)

Inuyasha buries, Miroku worries, Sango recovers and Myoga acts like a possessed Star Trek character and does things that make no sense for the sake of a Midoriko Sour. They are delicious, I'll give him that. (Opening and Closing theme "My Will" by Gabriela Vega) (Image by MaramaTsg)

Miroku needs a filler episode to decide if he really wants to join this group, but don't worry, because it's a GOOD filler episode. Before recording, Sean wraps Lindsay's microphone in a giant carpet and tosses it over a bridge. (Opening and Closing theme by Kaoru Wada) (Image by MaramaTsg)

A new team member is added to our Gang! One who adds some much needed... um... horniness to the show? Sean, of course, relates to him the most. Sure, he's got a hole in his hand, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HOLE IN HIS HEART, HMM? There really is no explanation for Miroku's ability to ride a bike other than a talent for promiscuity. (Opening and Closing theme by Kaoru Wada) (Image by MaramaTsg) The Ancient Magus Bride was the anime Sean was trying to remember, by the way.

Vivi and Miroku speculate on what Dynamis-Divergence could possibly be, talk about what it’s like to start a new character at the end of 2017 and touch on some...

Vivi and Miroku talk about the November, October, and September version updates, the recent Twitch livestream, and the big crafting changes coming. You can e-mail us at petfoodbeta@gamerescape.com...

Vivi and Miroku talk about the July version update, and a few comments about Miroku’s experience at E3. You can e-mail us at petfoodbeta@gamerescape.com or hit us up...

Vivi, Miroku and Duelly talk about the April version update, as well as a quick intro about the recently revealed screenshots of FFXI Mobile, and the May version...

Vivi and Miroku talk about friendship and relationships, and oh yeah, the new REM weapon upgrades! New years resolution is to get these episodes up sooner rather than...

Recorded Dec 5th, 2015: Vivi and Miroku react to the conclusion of Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. You can e-mail us at petfoodbeta@gamerescape.com or hit us up on Twitter @petfoodbeta.

Vivi and Miroku are joined once again by Fusionx, Steak and Duelly for an extra special PFB/PFA look back on Final Fantasy XI as the story comes to...

This episode was recorded about 4 weeks ago, sincere apologies for the delay of its release! Vivi and Miroku talk about the September update preceding the final major content...

Vivi and Miroku talk about the second installment of Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. Plus an update about Final Fantasy Grandmasters. You can e-mail us at petfoodbeta@gamerescape.com or hit us up...

Vivi and Miroku are joined by FusionX to talk about the first installment of Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. You can e-mail us at petfoodbeta@gamerescape.com or hit us up on Twitter @petfoodbeta.

We kick off this episode with a few important announcements and a public apology for our April Fool's antics. Be sure to listen to the first part of the show if you've been having trouble downloading the podcast from iTunes. We also discuss some changes to the rewards offered to our Patreon supporters and remind the listeners that this is an explicit podcast on a block targeting mature viewers and why we wont self-censor discussions, especially when mature content comes up during Toonami programming. This week's topic is whether or not Toonami should go back having a late night encore but we end up discussing the potential for marathons and movies as well. During our SAO, KLK and InuYasha recaps we discuss Gamgori's unique fighting style, the first major visuals edits done to KILL la KILL, Sesshomaru getting a sword with an incredibly uninspired name, how everyone gets a good upgrade in the final stretch except Miroku, fan-disservice in Sword Art Online and Sinon kicking just as much ass as she showed off herself. Lastly we spend about twenty minutes answering some listener mail that has recently piled up. 00:00 - Intro / Announcements 15:18 - KILL la KILL Recap 24:43 - Sword Art Online II Recap 44:17 - Toonami News 1:05:27 - InuYasha The Final Act Recap 1:17:26 - This Week on Toonami 1:24:35 - Topic: Should Toonami Bring Back the Late Night Encore? 1:39:34 - Listener Mail 1:59:43 - Sign-Off Music Credits: "Before My Body is Dry" by Mika Kobayashi "Kimi ga Inai Mirai" by Do as Infinity "Ignite" by Eir Aoi "Flyers" by BRADIO DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions of the participants of this podcast are not the views of ToonamiFaithful.Com or it’s affiliates, nor are they the views of Toonami, [adult swim], Williams Street, Turner or any other Time Warner property. Your hosts this week are Sketch (Editor-In-Chief of ToonamiFaithful.com), Paul Pescrillo (Founder of ToonamiFaithful.com), Jim Nelson (Announcer of the podcast), Darrell Maddox (Self-Proclaimed Head of the HR for ToonamiFaithful.com) and Jennifer aka Tarzanuh aka MonkeyNuts our first chair alternate. Please rate us on iTunes and send us feedback to Twitter or Facebook. Twitter: @ToonamiPodcast Facebook.com/ToonamiPodcast Website: ToonamiFaithful.com E-Mail: Podcast@ToonamiFaithful.com

Vivi and Miroku are joined by FusionX to talk about the followup Q&A from the Vana’diel announcement, highlights from February and March updates, and a lot of tangents....

Vivi and Miroku are joined by FusionX to talk about the end of Final Fantasy XI’s storyline announcement, discontinuation of PS2 and XBox 360 support, Final Fantasy Grandmasters...

Vivi and Miroku discuss the January version update. Have questions or comments for the show? You can e-mail us at petfoodbeta@gamerescape.com or hit us up on Twitter @petfoodbeta.

Vivi and Miroku discuss the December version update, the “gifts” system, and the 2014 Tarutaru cup! Have questions or comments for the show? You can e-mail us at...

Vivi, and Miroku have a very special holiday treat, an exclusive interview with the Final Fantasy XI Dev team! Camate from the community team was kind enough to...

Vivi, Miroku and Karma go over the conclusion of Seeker’s of Adoulin (spoiler free-ish), job adjustments, Unity Concord and more in Novembers massive update. Have questions or comments...

Join Vivi and Miroku for wild (probably incorrect) speculation on where the Adoulin storyline ends up, plus version update news including new missions, job adjustments, the long awaited...

Vivi, Miroku, and some loud bird near Miroku’s window cover the July version update, which includes info about: HASTE 2! Other job adjustments, monster rearing, Star Sibyl trust...

Vivi, and Miroku are briefly joined by FusionX in a very long and ridiculous and news filled show. Topics covered include the June version update’s synth additions, weapsonskill adjustments and...

Vivi and Miroku decide how Maat should be pronounced, and also talk about the news including: Trust updates, Mog Wardrobe, Rune Fencer and Geomancer Mythics, Matsui’s recent comments...

Join Vivi and Miroku for another exciting edition of Pet Food Beta! Topics discussed include the April Version Update and Login Campaigns, Freshly Picked Vana’diel, and Dev Tracker...

After the launch of Pet Food Alpha in June 2005, today we’re excited to announce that we’re finally moving into beta! Join Vivi and Miroku as they’re joined...

Having problems feeling the holiday spirit? Andrew Cooke has your solution.Tonight we read The Final Fantasy Christmas Special by Miroku-chanCelebrate Christmas, New Year, or even surviving the 2012 Apocalypse.Play Episode 57You can email P.I.T. at thepitpodcast@gmail.com

Fusionx, Steak, Miroku and Bersty spend some time with Tweex, creator of The Land of Vana’Diel Orchestral Remix Album! July Update info and more!

Corinth and Miroku join us to talk about Vanafest 2012 coverage! PFA Celebrates 6 years Brand New Expansion! New Jobs! New Areas!

Miroku. Servers turned off. Oh and Polish. The Final Fantasy XI Team Answers Your Questions Final Fantasy XI Official Forums Launch Dev Tracker (March 8, March 9) Temporary...

MIROKU Masayuki Adachi 6:00