Patience - Ninsho

Japanese: 忍性 - にんしょう

Year of death: 12th July 1303 (25th August 1303)
Year of birth: Kenpo 5.7.16 (1217.8.19)
A Ritsu sect monk from the Kamakura period. The founder and head priest of Gokuraku-ji Temple in Kamakura. His pen name was Ryokanbo. He was from Yamato Province (Nara Prefecture). He was the son of Tomo Sadayuki and his mother Enoki. He learned of the Manjushri faith from an early age under the influence of his mother, and at the age of 16, he decided to become a monk after his mother's death, and practiced the Manjushri faith at Kakuan-ji Temple, Abe Monjuin Temple, Ikoma-san Chikurin-ji Temple, and other places. In En'o 1 (1239), at the age of 23, he met Saidaiji Eison, received the precepts, and became his disciple. He had a strong desire to place an image of Manjusri Bodhisattva in the lodgings of hinin in Yamato Province in order to help his late mother attain enlightenment. After that, Ninsho's Manjushri faith was adopted by the Saidaiji Ritsu sect, and the Saidaiji Ritsu sect's movement to save hinin, which regards hinin as incarnations of Manjusri Bodhisattva, began. Ninsho also worked hard to help hinin in Narazaka who could no longer stand due to leprosy, by carrying them on his back to Nara city every day and helping them make a living by begging. At the same time, he also worked to improve the precepts, and in 1252, at the age of 36, he went to Kanto to spread the Ritsu sect in the eastern provinces, and lived at Mimura-ji Temple in Hitachi (Ibaraki Prefecture). In 1262, Ninsho gained the trust of the Hojo clan of the shogunate through his activities when his teacher Eison went to Kamakura, and after working at Taho-ji Temple, he lived in Gokuraku-ji Temple, which would become the base of his life's activities, in 1267. From then on, he worked hard in Kamakura on charitable projects such as helping hinin, promoting the practice of sakudo (Gokurakujizaka), and prohibiting killing (Kamakura Maehama). At the Kuwaya Sanitarium he built in Kamakura, 46,800 people lived and 10,450 died over a 20-year period, meaning that four-fifths of the residents survived. His charitable work, such as collecting rice for the repair of the port of Wakaejima in Kamakura and receiving a donation of Oinusho in Tosa Province (Kochi Prefecture) from Hojo Tokimune to cover the costs of Kuwaya Sanitarium, also played a complementary role in the system by acting on behalf of the shogunate's transportation and charitable work policies. His entrepreneurial abilities in fundraising activities were recognized, and he was successively appointed as chief fundraiser for Todaiji Temple, betto (chief priest) of Shitennoji Temple, and betto (chief priest) of Tada-in Temple in Settsu, and he also carried out fundraising and restoration activities for many temples and shrines. <References> Wajima Yoshio, "Eison and Ninsho"

(Ryoichi Hosokawa)

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

Japanese:

没年：嘉元1.7.12(1303.8.25)
生年：建保5.7.16(1217.8.19)
鎌倉時代の律宗の僧。鎌倉極楽寺の開山長老。字は良観房。大和国(奈良県)の人。伴貞行と母榎氏の子。幼少より母の影響で文殊信仰を学び,16歳に母の死を契機として出家を決意,額安寺,安倍文殊院,生駒山竹林寺などで文殊信仰の修行をした。延応1(1239)年,23歳で西大寺叡尊と出会い,戒を受けてその弟子となった。彼は亡母の解脱のため,大和国の非人宿に文殊菩薩の図像を安置することを念願としており,以後,忍性のこの文殊信仰が西大寺流律宗に取り入れられて,非人を文殊菩薩の化身とみなす西大寺流律宗の非人救済運動が展開されることとなった。忍性も癩(ハンセン病)のため足腰の立たなくなった奈良坂の非人を,毎日奈良の市まで背負って送り迎えし,乞食で生計が成り立つようにするなど,非人救済に奔走した。その一方で律書の整備にも努め,建長4(1252)年,36歳で律宗の東国布教をめざして関東に下向し,常陸(茨城県)三村寺に住した。弘長2(1262)年,師叡尊の鎌倉下向に際しての活動で忍性も幕府の北条氏の信頼を得,多宝寺を経て,文永4(1267)年,生涯の活動の拠点となる極楽寺に住した。以後,鎌倉にあって非人救済,作道(極楽寺坂),殺生禁断(鎌倉前浜)などの慈善事業に努めた。彼が鎌倉に建立した療病施設・桑谷療病所では,20年間に生きる者4万6800人,死んだ者1万450人で,5分の4が生きたといわれている。彼の慈善事業は鎌倉和賀江島の津の修築のため升米を取り,桑谷療病所の費用として土佐国(高知県)大忍荘を北条時宗から寄進されるなど,幕府の交通政策や慈善事業政策を代行する体制補完的な役割も果たした。その勧進活動における事業家的な能力が買われて,東大寺大勧進,四天王寺別当,摂津多田院別当なども歴任し,多くの寺社の勧進・復興活動も成し遂げた。<参考文献>和島芳男『叡尊・忍性』

(細川涼一)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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