Genshin

Biography

Early life and education

Genshin's life is somewhat obscure despite the existence of four different brief biographies on him from the Heian Period. What is known is that Genshin was born as Chigikumaro in Lower Katsuragi county, Yamato Province, to one Uraba no Masachika and his wife from the Kiyohara clan, a cadet of the Minamoto who were provincial aristocrats. His pious mother, a Pure Land believer, is said to have wished for a son, and prayed before a statue of the bodhisattva Kannon. After receiving a vision where a monk handed her a jewel, she is said to have become pregnant and gave birth to Genshin.

Genshin took tonsure with the Tendai sect of Buddhism as a child at Mount Hiei's Enryakuji Temple, though the reasons are unknown. One theory is that his father died, since his mother and sisters also took tonsure at some point. While there, he studied under the controversial monk Ryōgen 良源 (912–985), who would later become the head of Enryakuji. During this time, Tendai had become divided into two competing lineage factions (Jinmon and Sanmon, those of Enchin and Ennin respectively). Ryōgen was part of the Sanmon sect and worked to strengthen the power of this faction through the forging of ties with powerful politicians at the imperial court. Through his ties with court elites, Ryōgen was able solidify his power base in Yokawa, an old base of the Ennin sect that had previously gone into decline.

Genshin was trained in the Tendai tradition of exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, receiving full ordination in 955. Under Ryōgen, Genshin soon became a precocious scholar. At age fifteen in 956, Genshin was already giving sutra lectures and he was selected by Emperor Murakami as a lecturer for the prestigious Hokke Hakkō ceremony. Later, Genshin took part in debates promoted by Ryōgen to enforce academic standards. In 974, Genshin's victory against the Sanron monk Chōnen in a debate at the Imperial palace impressed the nobleman Taira no Chikanobu, who praised Genshin in his personal diary. In 978 Genshin wrote his first academic treatise, which was on Buddhist logic, the Inmyōronsho Shisōi Ryakuchūshaku (Abridged Commentary on the Four Divergences in the Treatise on Logic).

Yokawa

By 981, Genshin had retired to the remote Yokawa area of Mount Hiei, away from the centers of religious and political power. In doing so, he "cast aside the prospect of a successful career within the Tendai monastic institution and retired to spend the rest of his life as a recluse in Yokawa." Scholars still speculate on his reasons for retreating from public and political life. Some sources say that Genshin's retreat was prompted by his own mother, who scolded him for associating with the powerful and the wealthy instead of practicing the Dharma. Rhodes also argues that the political machinations of Ryōgen, in particular his swift promotion of the monk Jinzen, a member of the Fujiwara clan, may have also led Genshin to retreat.

The political infighting between the Sanmon and Jinmon lineages may also have been a factor. According to Rhodes, "Ryōgen’s partisan policies had polarized the monks of Mt. Hiei, and the resulting antagonism had poisoned the atmosphere of the entire monastery. Genshin must have felt that the situation had deteriorated to the point where Enryakuji was no longer fit as a serious center of religious practice." This period even saw the appearance of armed monks (sōhei), as rival factions resorted to violence to settle their disputes. Other disciples of Ryōgen such as Zōga (増賀, 917-1003) similarly retired in disgust, with some leaving Mount Hiei entirely.

Once at Yokawa, Genshin began to study and write on Pure Land Buddhism, completing some small Pure Land works, including the Byakugō kanbō (白毫觀法, Contemplating the Urna), which teaches the contemplation of the white hair curl between Amida Buddha's eyebrows and how this curl emits a salvific light that illumines all beings.

Four years later Genshin worked on his three fascicle Ōjōyōshū (往生要集, Essentials of Rebirth in the Pure Land) between 984 and 985. This systematic anthology of sutras and commentaries vividly described the sufferings of the six realms and the bliss of the Pure Land, establishing vocal and contemplative nenbutsu as the essential practice for rebirth. The text famously states, "The essential act for rebirth is the practice of the Buddha's name." Ōjōyōshū became immensely influential in Japan and was later taken to Song China, where it was also highly praised.

In 987, Genshin also went on pilgrimage to Kyūshū where he came into contact with Chinese Buddhist monks (and merchant escorts) who were staying there, and they exchanged works with one another. A merchant named Yang Renzhao (楊仁昭) reported that a copy of Ōjōyōshū was deposited there at Guoqingsi Temple on Mount Tiantai some time before 990. Genshin sought to further expand contacts with the parent Tiantai community in China, but due to the An Lushan Rebellion and internal strife within the Chinese community from 1000 onward, these efforts did not achieve the expected results.

Nenbutsu fellowship

During the 980s, Genshin remained deeply involved in the study and practice of Pure Land Buddhism. In 986 Genshin joined fellow monks dwelling in Yokawa in a nenbutsu fellowship called the nijūgo zanmaie (二十五三昧会; "The Fellowship of the Twenty-five Samadhis"), an association of twenty five nenbutsu devotees who all signed a vow together to help each other practice nenbutsu and attain birth in the Pure Land. It is unclear if Genshin was a founding member or not, however, and there are different scholarly views on this issue. The fellowship's vow calls for all members to see each other as spiritual friends who will, if one of them falls ill, encourage and support them in nenbutsu practice at the time of death. According to the Kishō hachikajō, the group also agreed to meet on the fifteenth of every month to practice a ritual recitation of the Amida Sutra, followed by circumambulatory nenbutsu, and dedication of merit. The fellowship integrated esoteric elements, notably the ritual empowerment of sand through the Mantra of Light. The empowered sand, which was seen as being able to eradicate karmic obstructions to rebirth in the Pure Land, was set aside for later funerary use. Beyond ritual practice, the society functioned as a disciplined monastic community: membership was based on moral conduct and regular participation; care for sick members was institutionalized through the planned construction of an infirmary (Ōjōin); and collective responsibility was emphasized at the deathbed, where all members were required to assemble to support the dying monk’s nenbutsu. Burial practices were likewise communal, involving a shared cemetery, periodic memorial services, and continued nenbutsu on behalf of deceased members, all restricted to an exclusively monastic fellowship.

In 988, Genshin revised the fellowship's covenant in the Yokawa Shuryōgon’in nijūgo zanmai kishō 横川首楞嚴院二十五三昧起請 (Covenant of the [Fellowship of] Twenty-five Samādhis of Shuryōgon’in of Yokawa). This text expands on the group's activities, specifying in detail the timing and sequence of the monthly all-night nenbutsu vigil, adding lectures on the Lotus Sūtra, and clarifying duties such as lamp offerings and altar simplicity. The revision also reinforced mutual obligations among members, portraying the fellowship as a quasi-familial community bound by reciprocal care during illness, and coordinated funerary observances. Particular emphasis was placed on organized hospice care, reflecting both doctrinal concerns about maintaining correct mindfulness at death and practical anxieties about aging, poverty, and abandonment. Although the fellowship initially struggled to realize its institutional goals such as the construction of the Ōjōin and cemetery, these difficulties eventually prompted external patronage.

Later life

In 990, Genshin was given responsibility for the Shikikō 四季講 (Lectures of the Four Seasons) by the elderly Jinzen. These were a series of yearly lectures and debeates instituted by Ryōgen. According to Rhodes, "in spring, lectures were given on the Huayan Sutra; in summer, on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra; in autumn, on the Lotus Sutra; and in winter, on either the Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra or the Large Prajñāpāramita Sūtra."

Throughout the next decade of his life in the 990s, Genshin continued to life as a recluse on Yokawa, practicing with his nenbutsu fellowship and continuing his studies in relative obscurity. He shunned worldly contacts and avoided monastic offices. Genshin remained aloof from official activities until around 1001, when participated in a Ninnōe (Benevolent Kings Ceremony) at the imperial palace. At this year he was also given the priestly rank of Dharma Bridge (hōkyō shōnin). He also served as a judge for official debates held in the 1004 Minazukie ceremony. During this time he received the ecclesiastic rank of supernumerary minor bishop (gonshōsōzu 權少僧都). However, despite his fame at court, he resigned this official position after only one year in 1005, never accepting any further promotions again. Even when the powerful Fujiwara no Michinaga (966–1027) sought him out for private religious services, Genshin politely refused. His fame at this time is reflected in the Tale of Genji which mentions a reclusive "bishop of Yokawa", which is thought to refer to Genshin.

Genshin continued writing throughout his life, producing major works like the Daijō Tai Kusha Shō (Extracts Comparing the Mahāyāna with the [Abhidharma-] kośa), a comparative study of Mahayana and Abhidharma philosophy, and the Ichijō Yōketsu (1006), which expounded the one-vehicle doctrine of universal Buddhahood. Genshin composed a number of other treatises (over 30 works) throughout his life. In 994 he wrote the Sonshō yōmon 尊勝要文 (Essential Passages on Butchō Sonshō), a work on the important Sonshō dhāraṇī (Sarvadurgati-pariśodhana Uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī). This dhāraṇī which is associated with the destruction of bad karma and ensures birth in Amida's Pure Land was an important part of Pure Land practice in the Heian period. Genshin recited it three hundred thousand times throughout his life. Genshin also wrote the Bodaishingi yōmon 菩提心義要文(Essential Passages on the Meaning of the Aspiration for Enlightenment) in 997, in which he discusses the need to arouse bodhicitta.

Genshin also helped establish several new organizations at Yokawa, including the Mukakekō (Association to Worship the Coming of Amida Buddha to Take Dying Believers to the Pure Land) and the Shakakō (Śākyamuni Association), which was based on devotion to the Śākyamuni of the Lotus Sutra and sought to create a ritual center which represented Śākyamuni Pure Land on Vulture Peak. Genshin also contributed to initiating the Mukaekō ceremonies which invoke Amida Buddha's welcoming descent at the time of death using song and dance. Genshin may have also been involved in the creation of raigō paintings depicting the coming of the Buddha Amida.

Teachings

Genshin was trained in the Tendai Buddhist tradition (the Japanese branch of Tiantai Buddhism). As such, his writings reflect a Tendai worldview and a deep understanding of the classic Tiantai teachings on meditation (as found in Zhiyi's Mohe Zhiguan), and doctrine (such as the three truths). His works discuss numerous topics, such as the One Vehicle of the Lotus Sutra, Abhidharma and Mahayana and Pure Land.

Genshin also took a special interest in Chinese Pure Land teachings of masters such as Shandao. This places him in the Tendai Pure Land current which included the popular preacher Kūya, and the scholar-monks Ryōgen (912-985), Zenyu (913-990), and Senkan (918-983). The basic Pure Land belief is that we should seek to be reborn in the pure land of Amitabha Buddha, since it is the safest, most accessible and easiest path to Buddhahood. This is achieved through various practices, though the recollection of the Buddha (Chinese: nianfo, Japanese: nembutsu) was the main practice.

Pure land teachings

Genshin's Ōjōyōshū (往生要集; Collection of the Essentials for Birth [into the Pure Land of Amida Buddha]) is an extensive presentation of Pure Land Buddhist theory and practice. According to Rhodes, the work attempts to incorporate the Pure Land teaching into Tendai by showing how it is compatible with the traditional Tendai system of meditation. This text, which was the first such extensive summary of Pure Land thought and practice in Japan, "remained the standard work on these topics for generations".

Much of the Ōjōyōshū is composed of quotations on Pure Land topics from Mahayana sutras and treatises. According to Rhodes, "the number of passages quoted in the Ōjōyōshū is enormous: nearly a thousand from over one hundred and sixty different texts". The most important and widely cited sources in Genshin's Ōjōyōshū are the works of the Chinese Pure Land masters like Shandao and Huaigan.

The teaching of the Ōjōyōshū is based on the idea that Pure Land Buddhism is the "easy practice" most suitable for the age of dharma decline (J: mappō), an age that Genshin believed was imminent based on scripture and current events. Genshin held that in this latter age of decline, it was extremely difficult to attain liberation through the traditional Tendai path. As such, the only feasible method for liberation for most people was to gain birth in Amida Buddha's Pure Land through the nenbutsu, which for Genshin referred to a variety of practices. Genshin explains this rationale in his preface to the text, which states:The teaching and practice for birth in the Land of Supreme Bliss are the eyes and legs (of people who seek buddhahood in) the defiled Latter Age. Who among clerics, lay believers, nobles, and commoners will not take refuge in it? Moreover, the texts of the exoteric and esoteric teachings are not few, and their practices, both for relative and ultimate realizations, are many. Those who are intelligent and diligent may not find them difficult, but how can someone as dull as I dare even attempt them? Thus I have collected a few essential passages from the sutras and treatises on the single way of the nenbutsu. The Essentials for Birth begins with an extensive discussion on the six realms of samsara and the suffering of each, which includes graphic depictions of the various sufferings one finds in the hell realms. Genshin explains that liberation from suffering can never be found in these realms. Thus, the second chapter of the work explains the bliss experienced in the Pure Land, encouraging readers to seek birth there since it is a place where one can learn the Dharma from great bodhisattvas and Amida Buddha himself.

Abhidharma

Genshin's Daijō tai kushashō is a work of fourteen fascicles that stands as his most extensive composition and far exceeds the length of his other writings. This treatise is particularly significant because it highlights his sustained engagement with abhidharma philosophy. In the preface, he explains that he had long felt the absence, within Mahāyāna Buddhism, of a systematic work comparable to Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa. While acknowledging that the Hossō school had integrated abhidharma doctrines into its system, he judged its texts either too voluminous, as in the case of the Yogācārabhūmi, or too compressed and difficult, as with the Chengweishilun. To address this gap, Genshin selected more than five hundred of the Abhidharmakośa’s six hundred verses and provided a Mahāyāna-oriented commentary on them.

The sources he employed to explicate these verses derive largely from Indian Yogācāra materials, making the work in effect a comparative analysis of Sarvāstivādin abhidharma and the Yogācāra. Although Genshin notes assistance from others, the scale and sophistication of the Daijō tai kushashō suggest that it represents the culmination of decades of study. His commitment to abhidharma scholarship did not diminish thereafter. In 1013, only a few years before his death, he completed the Kusharon jusho shōmon, a corrective study addressing a Tang-dynasty commentary on the Abhidharmakośa.

One Vehicle teaching

In 1006 Genshin’s intellectual trajectory entered a new phase when a serious illness led him to reassess unresolved doctrinal disputes. During his convalescence, he became convinced that it was necessary to establish decisively the Tendai Ekayāna teaching that all beings can attain buddhahood and to reject the Hossō theory of fixed spiritual lineages (gotras). After recovering, and with the assistance of disciples, he undertook a comprehensive review of relevant Indian, Chinese, and Japanese sources, which culminated in the composition of the Ichijō yōketsu (Determining the Essentials of the One Vehicle), a three-fascicle treatise which systematically addresses the core disagreements between Tendai and Hossō, and defends the Tendai view of the universal capacity for Buddhahood. Across eight chapters, Genshin marshals canonical citations to defend the one-vehicle doctrine which says all beings can attain buddhahood, along with the Nirvāṇa Sūtra's view that "all beings without exception have the buddha nature." The Ichijō yōketsu argues that the Lotus Sūtra represents the Buddha’s definitive teaching and that, as affirmed in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, even those deemed irredeemable within Yogacara soteriology possess the capacity for buddhahood.

Genshin's citations affirm that no being lacks the intrinsic capacity for Buddhahood, and Genshin interprets these statements literally: Buddha-nature denotes the actual potential for Buddhahood, not merely an abstract principle or metaphor. Even when obscured by extreme defilements, this nature remains present and ensures that eventual awakening is possible under appropriate conditions.Hossō scholars rejected this universalism by positing a theory of differentiated spiritual capacities. According to its doctrine of five lineages, beings are innately destined for five distinct attainments: Buddhahood, pratyekabuddhahood, arhatship, indeterminate outcomes, or perpetual transmigration. Icchantikas, identified with “lineageless” beings, were held to lack the causal basis for enlightenment. To reconcile passages in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra that affirm universal Buddha-nature with this framework, Hossō exegetes developed a distinction between two kinds of Buddha-nature: Buddha-nature as principle (the universal suchness present in all beings) and Buddha-nature as practice or seed (the actual causal capacity for Buddhahood), the latter being absent in some beings who could thus never reach buddhahood.

Genshin rejects this distinction as doctrinally unfounded. He argues that the Buddhist canon provides no basis for separating Buddha-nature into purely nominal and effective forms. When scriptures declare that all beings possess Buddha-nature, they mean precisely that all beings have the real capacity to attain Buddhahood. Genshin further contends that Hossō interpretations distort the intent of key Nirvāṇa Sūtra passages by reading later scholastic categories back into the text. Statements warning against asserting either absolute existence or absolute nonexistence of Buddha-nature, he maintains, are meant to express its emptiness and transcendence of conceptual extremes, not to justify an internal division within Buddha-nature itself.

Works

In all, Genshin left more than 30 works which continue to influence Pure Land thought today.

His major works include the following:

Inmyōronsho Shisōi Ryakuchūshaku (Abridged Commentary on the Four Divergences in the Treatise on Logic) (3 fascicles)

Ōjōyōshū (3 fascicles)

Nijūgo Zanmai Shiki , a guide for the members of the zanmai-e (meditation assemblies) dedicated to the practice of nenbutsu-samadhi

Daijō Tai Kushashō (A Comparison between Mahāyāna and the Abhidharmakośa) (14 fascicles)

Ichijō Yōketsu (Essentials of the One Vehicle) (3 fascicles)

Hokkekyō Gidoku (1 fascicle)

Yokawa Hogo 横川法語

Amida-kyō Ryakuki (Abridged Notes on the Amitābha Sūtra) (1 fascicle)

Yōhōbun (3 fascicles)

Bodaishin Giyōbun (1 fascicle)

Ryōzen-in Shakadō Mainichi Sahō (1 fascicle)

Hakkotsukan (1 fascicle)

Sonshō yōmon 尊勝要文 (Essential Passages on Butchō Sonshō) a work on the Sarvadurgati-pariśodhana uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī

Gokuraku rokujisan 極樂六時讚 (Hymn for the Land of Supreme Bliss for the Six Watches of the Day), popularly known as the Rokuji wasan 六時和讚 (Hymn in Japanese for the Six Watches of the Day).

Hongaku texts

There are several other texts which have been attributed to Genshin that modern scholars see as apocryphal, including various Pure Land hongaku texts like the Kanjin ryakuyōshū, Shinnyō kan 真如観 (Contemplation of Suchness), Jigyō nenbutsu mondō, Myōgyōshin yōshū, and the Makura sōshi. In spite of this, the contemporary Tendai tradition still treats these works as part of Genshin's corpus. This conservative view is based on the fact that they are still texts which arose in Genshin's Eshin lineage and they are seen as transmitting his oral teachings.

The Kanjin ryakuyōshū (Abbreviated Collection of Passages on Mind Contemplation), a brief treatise traditionally attributed to Genshin and known for interpreting the name “Muryōju” in terms of the Tendai three truths and for linking Pure Land rebirth to contemplation of one’s own mind, has long been the subject of serious doubts regarding its authorship. Bibliographic evidence weighs strongly against its authenticity: the text is absent from Genshin’s early biographies, appears only in later medieval catalogues, is first explicitly cited in the fourteenth century, and survives today only in much later printed editions. Early modern and modern scholars have argued that its doctrinal orientation reflects the original enlightenment (hongaku) thought that gained prominence after Genshin’s lifetime and that it belongs to a broader pattern of posthumous works falsely attributed to him. More recent research has strengthened this conclusion by identifying quotations in the Kanjin ryakuyōshū from texts composed after Genshin’s death and by noting internal references that presuppose a temporal distance from Genshin himself. On this basis, the work is now generally regarded as a later composition, probably dating from the late eleventh or twelfth century, rather than a genuine product of Genshin.

Another example is the Kūkan (Contemplation of Emptiness). As noted by Stone, this text contains one of the earliest mentions of the daimoku, which is recommended as part of the phrase: Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu". Similar passages which contain the daimoku as a devotional chant are also found in the works of Genshin's disciples Kakuun (953–1007) and Kakuchō (952/960–1034).

Legacy

Today, Genshin is credited as the founding patriarch of the Eshin-ryū lineage of Tendai Buddhism. This tradition was later known as a stronghold of the "original enlightenment" teaching, or hongaku (本覚).

Pure Land activities

Genshin is most well known today for his Pure Land works, and is regarded as a patriarch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. The Essentials for Birth (Ōjōyōshū) was very influential in Japan, and Rhodes calls it "one of the most well-known works in the history of Japanese religions." The text was particularly important for the development of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, and according to Rhodes, "it was through this text that Pure Land Buddhism became firmly rooted in Japan." The Ōjōyōshū is known to have influenced later Pure Land figures such as Ryōnin, Hōnen, Shinran and Benchō. The first commentary on the text, the Ōjōyōshū giki 往生要集義記, was composed by Ryōchū, the third patriarch of Jōdo-shū's Chinzei branch.

However, some scholars like Sarah Horton have argued against the widespread scholarly assumption that the rapid spread of Pure Land Buddhism across all levels of Japanese society in the eleventh century was especially due to Genshin's Ōjōyōshū. By analyzing contemporary sources, Horton finds that the text's influence in the early eleventh century has been overstated. Instead, Horton proposes that Genshin’s pivotal role in Heian Pure Land Buddhism stemmed more from his active leadership and participation in various religious fellowships, particularly those at Yokawa.

Nevertheless, the popular Pure Land teacher Hōnen, founder of the Jōdo-shū, was significantly influenced by the Ōjōyōshū. This is reflected in Hōnen's four Ōjōyōshū commentaries, which consistently argue that Genshin’s essential purpose was to promote the nenbutsu, especially the vocal nenbutsu, as the central Pure Land practice. In his most detailed commentary, the Ōjōyōshū shaku, Hōnen structures his analysis arounends that within the Ōjōyōshū’s extensive array of practices, the nenbutsu alone is essential, while all other practices are non-essential. Hōnen supports this by citing passages where Genshin highlights the nenbutsu’s primacy, interpreting them as evidence that Genshin intended practitioners to “cast away the difficult and take up the easy.” Hōnen further analyzes the Ōjōyōshū on three levels: broad, abbreviated, and essential. He identifies the “Summary of the Essential Practices” section as the text’s condensed core, listing seven key practices. Even within this shortlist, Hōnen argues that the recitative nenbutsu is paramount, using Genshin’s own words about the practice a framework of selection and rejection. He concludes that the Ōjōyōshū’s ultimate, “essential” message is the advocacy of exclusive recitative nenbutsu, an interpretation not supported by the Ōjōyōshū itself according to Rhodes. While Genshin presented the nenbutsu as primary within an inclusive system supported by auxiliary practices, Hōnen reinterpreted the text to justify an exclusive nenbutsu practice that sets aside other practices.

The Ichijō yōketsu

Genshin's Ichijō yōketsu was also important for the development of later Japanese Buddhism. According to Serena Operetto, Genshin's defense of the Tendai view of universal enlightenment was so influential that: Even Hossō monks of later generations were forced to reconcile their doctrine of the five lineages of people with the One-vehicle. This is particularly the case for Jōkei 貞慶 (1155–1213), who admitted the truth of the doctrine of the One-vehicle was equal to that of the five lineages of people. And his successor Ryōhen 良遍 (1194–1252) also insisted on syncretizing the two, asserting that there is no contradiction between them. This does not mean that all Hossō scholars did not try to counterattack Genshin’s argumentations, nor that they accepted the supremacy of Tendai thought on this theme. Nonetheless, from the moment the Ichijō yōketsu was composed, no Buddhist scholar of the medieval period could dismiss the idea that all beings bar none, are able to achieve Buddhahood. Thus, the belief in universal Buddhahood came to be commonly assumed among all Buddhist traditions in medieval Japan. The influence of the Ichijō yōketsu can be seen in the work of later Japanese Buddhist thinkers like Nichiren and Shinran. Nichiren frequently relied on Genshin's work rather than directly on sutras, evidenced by shared textual variations and terminology. This influence is clear in Nichiren's writings on universal enlightenment and the nature of icchantikas. Furthermore, Nichiren created a condensed version of Genshin's treatise, focusing on passages about grave offenses and slanderers of the Dharma, and his annotated copy of the Lotus Sutra contains numerous overt and implicit references to the Ichijō yōketsu, often rearranging Genshin's arguments to support his own teachings.

Other

The image of Amida Nyorai in the main building of Yasaka-ji Temple in Shikoku is said to have been made by Genshin in the Heian Period.

Genshin's influence in contemporary Japanese culture today is primarily due to his Ōjōyōshū, particularly its graphic descriptions of the Buddhist hell realms (地獄 jigoku), which inspired a genre of horror and morality stories. The 1960 Japanese film Jigoku was influenced by Genshin's Ōjōyōshū. In the manga and anime Jujutsu Kaisen, the corpse of Genshin functions as a "prison realm," likely playing on the themes of the underworld within Genshin's works.