When he received the message of release, he wished at once to proceed to the Capital and see his venerable master; but being prevented by various circumstances, it was not until January of the following year that he could start from Kokubu. When he reached Kodzuke on his way to Kyoto toward the middle of February, an unexpected news made him plunge into the deepest sorrow and despair; for it was the news of the death on January 25 of his revered master, Honen Shonin, whom he

wished to see fervently for once before his final passing. His heart-breaking was so great, indeed, that he threw himself down on the ground and cried most piteously. He now abandoned his plan to proceed to the Capital, and making his way for Hidachi Province, he visited several towns along his route and preached his faith to the people.

Since January, 1217, he settled at Inada of Hidachi Province, and began writing his "Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho" (The Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Attainment), in which are laid down the fundamental principles of the True Sect of Pure Land. This was his first literary work, and the greatest, for on this is built the entire structure of the True Sect. After the passing of his master, there were many of his disciples, who failed to grasp the spirit of their master and grossly misrepresented its vital signification. To

save the latter from a wreckage, therefore, and to make known the true purport of the Pure Land Sect (that is, the True Sect of Pure Land) free from all possible misinterpretations, he wrote this most significant book. It was completed in the year 1224, when our Shonin was fifty-two years of age.

In the year following (1225 A.D.), the Shonin built a temple at Takada of Shimodzuke Province. In 1226, the temple received the name, Senju Amida Ji, by an imperial order. After this, the True Sect of Pure Land began to draw its circles of propagation wider and wider around these two centers, Inada and Takada; and many men and women of good family gathered about him, who led them to the truth of the Buddhist faith. For twenty years in these localities he had thus been indefatigably engaged for the cause of the True Sect of Pure Land, when he conceived an idea to visit the Capital in

[paragraph continues] 1232. He was then sixty years old.