Living Buddha - Shobutsu

Japanese: 生仏 - しょうぶつ

Year of birth: Year of birth and death unknown. He is said to have been the founder of Heike Biwa (Heikyoku) in the early Kamakura period. Born in the eastern part of Japan. He lived during the time of the retired Emperor Gotoba (Tsurezuregusa, chapter 226). He was blind. He gained the patronage of the head priest of Tendai, Jien (Jichin), through his art. After failing academically, he retired to seclusion, and in cooperation with the middle-class aristocrat Shinano no Mae no Tsukasa Yukinaga, who was also under Jien's tutelage, he created The Tale of the Heike, which he is said to have been the first to recite. However, one theory is that the living Buddha was the first to recite The Tale of the Heike, which was written by Sugawara Tamenaga and the Tendai scholar monk Gen'ei.

(Hiroaki Yamashita)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
鎌倉前期,平家琵琶(平曲)の開祖といわれる。東国生まれ。後鳥羽上皇の時代の人(『徒然草』226段)。目が不自由であった。芸をもって天台座主慈円(慈鎮)の庇護を得た。学問上の失敗から遁世して,同じく慈円のもとにあった中流貴族信濃前司行長と協力して『平家物語』を作り,はじめて語ったという。しかし一説には菅原為長と天台の学僧玄恵が作った『平家物語』を生仏がはじめて語ったともいう。

(山下宏明)

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