Born a son of Hino Arinori, a minor noble of Kyoto. He is said to have been parted from his parents in early childhood.
At 8 he was ordained under Jien, later head of the Tendai school. Legend says he asked to be ordained that very night, reciting that cherry blossoms trusting in tomorrow may scatter in a midnight storm. He then trained on Mount Hiei for nearly twenty years.
Training on Mount Hiei did not resolve his doubts, and at 28 he came down. After a hundred-day retreat at Rokkakudō in Kyoto and a revelation in a dream, he visited Hōnen and became his disciple. The Tannishō records him saying he would not regret it even if Hōnen's teaching led him to hell.
He was allowed to copy Hōnen's Senchakushū, a privilege granted to few disciples, showing the deep trust his master placed in him.
The nenbutsu was banned; Hōnen was exiled to Sanuki and Shinran to Echigo (Niigata), never to see his master again. In Echigo he married Eshinni and had children. Openly a married monk, he called himself "neither monk nor layman".
He was pardoned, but, partly because Hōnen died the next year, he did not return to Kyoto right away.
He moved with his family to the Kantō and, based at Inada in Hitachi (Ibaraki) and elsewhere, spread his teaching among farmers and warriors for some twenty years.
Around this time he is thought to have begun his main work, the Kyōgyōshinshō (a year regarded as the founding of Jōdo Shinshū). He taught that salvation is assured the moment faith in Amida arises.
Around this time he returned to Kyoto and devoted himself to writing, guiding his Kantō disciples by letter. His idea that the wicked above all are saved (akunin shōki) is recorded in the Tannishō compiled by his disciple Yuien.
At 83 he disowned his eldest son Zenran, who had spread mistaken teachings in the Kantō—a painful decision, it is said.
He died in Kyoto at 89, watched over by his youngest daughter Kakushinni and others. His teaching later spread widely, centered on Hongan-ji.
HōnenMinamoto no YoritomoHōjō MasakoMinamoto no YoshitsuneHōjō YasutokiDōgenNichirenHōjō Tokimune
People of the Kamakura period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.