[016/100] Hosshinshu

How do you handle your worries?

3 min readMar 3, 2026

Hosshinshu by Kamo no Chomei, Kawade Shobo Shinsha

Truth of Heaven

Hosshinshu, A Collection of Tales of Religious Awakening (1215) is a collection of Buddhist tales compiled by Kamo no Chomei during his final years, around the age of 60. It preaches the spiritual attitude required to seek the Buddhist path. Comprising 102 stories, it depicts the lives of everyone from high-ranking priests to anonymous devotees. Some attain rebirth in the Pure Land through diligent practice, while others fall into demonic realms through delusion. It is often referred to as “Religious Literature.”

Chomei lived out his remaining time while critiquing these 102 “saints.” In one tale, “The mother who envied her daughter and whose fingers turned into snakes,” he leaves the following reflection:

“Those who live their entire lives pretending nothing is wrong on the surface, while inwardly agonizing, suffering, and fretting, are steadily solidifying the karma of hell. One must somehow become a ‘master of the heart’ as the Buddha taught — viewing present attachments as retribution for past lives or clearing the mind to see them as mere dreams. Even a single moment of repentance is essential.”

Even the author, living in seclusion in his “[011/100] Ten Foot Square Hut”, continued to struggle. Therefore, he believed that “listening to the stories of the wise, even if one cannot reach their level, serves as a connection to the Buddhist path.” He compiled Hoshinsu by “simply recording what he had seen and heard.”

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To a modern sensibility, viewing attachment as a “dream” or “retribution for a past life” might feel alien. However, through practices like the popular trend of journaling, or by forming a connection with works from the Complete Collections of Japanese Literature, we might find better ways to interpret the events that befall us.

Lovesick Worries

Much like Yoshi Ikuzo’s 1984 hit song, “Ora Tokyo sa Iguda” (I’m Going to Tokyo), in my teens, I couldn’t wait to escape the countryside. In my 20s, I felt nothing but anxiety for the future. In my 30s, I felt miserable for being a “nobody.” Now, in my 40s, I feel that I can write precisely because of all those worries I accumulated.

It has been a year since I bought a diary, and I have written in it every day. Then, tentatively, I started a blog. At first, I wrote only 400 characters. As I continued, I became able to write 800 — double the length. I am only on my 15th post out of 100, but I have no anxiety about the 16th. Since I’ve managed 15, I believe my words won’t run dry even after 100. It’s like love — no matter how much you love, you find you can always love more.

Today is March 3rd, Hina Matsuri (the Doll Festival), a day to pray for the healthy growth and happiness of girls. In ancient times, there was a custom called Nagashi-bina (floating dolls), where people would rub their bodies with paper dolls to transfer their impurities and float them down a river to ward off misfortune. Perhaps the act of writing is similar: transferring one’s worries onto paper with a pen and letting them flow into a blog to cleanse oneself of “yaku” (misfortune).

If I’m going to do it, I want to write something with a “good personality” — something that might even wash away the misfortunes of those who read it. The lyrics of the Showa era truly are great.