Through Rennyo’s (1415–1499) instruction attached to the Tannishō 歎異抄, it is known that he made it public as a sacralized text from what was originally a collection of personal letters preserved in the Hino 日野 family. According to the Bokiekotoba 慕帰絵詞, the Tannishō is a collection of the Dharma messages (hōmon 法文) which Yuien 唯円 (1222?–1289?) entrusted via Nyoshin 如信 (1235?–1300) to Kakunyo 覚如 (1270–1351), a nephew-in-law of Yuien, for the sake of the development of the genuine religious school and to counter the rise of the sect led by Shinran’s (1173–1263) eldest son Zenran 善鸞 (1211?–1292?) using talismans to gain popularity. After thorough consideration, Yuien entrusted these letters meant to counter Zenran to Nyoshin, the son of Zenran, to relay them to Kakunyo. The original form of those letters begins with the current article 10. Yuien also attached a collection of “important proof texts” (taisetsu no shōmondomo 大切の証文ども) against Zenran, and he asked Nyoshin, who acted as intermediary, to write an accompanying note. Kakunyo, who had heard Yuien’s true intention of writing these letters, then accepted these Dharma messages and founded the Honganji 本願寺. Therefore, the theory claiming the Tannishō to be a “prohibited text” is a misunderstanding developed by those ignorant of this process of transmission and the contents of the texts. Rennyo, descendant of Kakunyo, edited the texts, which were originally a collection of the Hino family’s personal letters, to prevent them from dissipation, and he openly promulgated the Tannishō as a sacred text. After a great effort, Rennyo successfully re-established and expanded the institutional foundation for the development of the present Honganji, which is his splendid achievement as a religious leader.
