Afew months before the United States entered the twentieth century, two Japanese Pure Land priests, Rev. Dr. Shuye Sonoda and Rev. Kakuryo Nishijima, set foot on American soil.
They were responding to an impassioned plea by a lay collective of devout young followers of Jodo Shinshu (Shin) Buddhism, the largest branch of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan and the U.S. These young Buddhists had asked the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha organization in Japan to dispatch priests to America to minister to their spiritual needs.
“For those of us living in the United States, there is no possibility of basking in the Compassionate life of the Buddha,” they wrote. “Not only are we unable to
