In the world of Jodoshin thought, the change that would be summarized by the phrase "from philosophy to experience" took place in the Meiji 30's. This article reconsiders the meaning of the change brought about by this thought, by reexamining thought and practice of Chikazumi Jokan (1870-1941), a priest of the Shinshu sect Otani faction. Chikazumi devoted himself to the study of philosophy in his university student days, but later he abandoned it, and became a religious person who values the experience of the individual. However, his method of grounding his personal experience of salvation in the universal elements of the history of Buddhism was consistent before and after that change. When Chikazumi talked about his religious experience, his self-experience overlapped with the experience of supreme existence in the history of the Buddhism with figures such as Shinran or Buddha. He also had his followers speak from their own experience. Chikazumi's narratives became the center, and one speaking from experience inspired others to speak of their experience. Through the thought of Chikazumi, the conversion that occurred to the thought of the Shinshu sect in the Meiji 30's brought about the creation of an original language and space of experience.
