In the history of Japanese Buddhism, as time passed, the idea of an exclusive practice that had been advocated by Hōnen gradually evolved in new ways, due to the continuing emergence of important Buddhist figures. Among these, Ippen, who was active in the late Kamakura period, developed the ideas of Hōnen's leading disciple Shōkū into a unique understanding of the spoken name (myōgō 名号). By combining the distribution of fuda with dance, Ippen elevated Pure Land teachings to new heights. I will discuss Ippen's life and his religious ideas, relating it to both politics and Buddhist history, based on the Ippen hijirie and the Ippen Shōnin ekotobaden, which are foundational texts for the study of Ippen.
Keiko Soda is a Japanese scholar. She was graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo. She got the Master's degree from the same University in 1983. She is a professor of Showa Women's University. She has studied Japanese Buddhism, but she had a critical outlook to find out the difference between Japanese Buddhism and Buddhism practiced in other Asian countries. She went to India to study in Calcutta University under the supervision of professor Dr. Sukomal Chaudhuri in 1989 and got the Ph.D.degree in 1994.
She is the author of the following other books and research papers: IPPEN'S BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND HIS LIFE, Tokyodo, Tokyo, 2013; DICTIONARY OF RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE IN THE WORLD, Tokyodo, Tokyo, 1999(in collaboration); THERAVADA BUDDHIST STUDIES IN JAPAN, Atisha Memorial Publishing Society, Calcutta, 1998; BUDDHIST THOUGHTS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN AND CHINA, Sankibo Busshorin, Tokyo,1992 (in collaborationn); IPPEN'S BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND HIS LIFE, Tokyodo, Tokyo, 2013; RELIGIOUS ART, Journal of the Showa Women's University, Tokyo, 1995-1997.
