ABSTRACT

In 2006, the Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji Temple in Kyoto, Japan released a four-part animated movie about the life of their tradition’s founder, Shinran Shonin (1173-1263). The anime movie dramatized his entry at the age of nine into the Tendai monastery on Mt Heiei outside Japan following the death of his parents. His struggle with Buddhism, his conversion to Pure Land practice, his eventual turning away from Tendai and his marriage to Eshinni were all dramatized in the familiar modes of Japanese animation.