Genbō

Genbō (玄昉, d. 746), also known as Gembō, was a Japanese scholar-monk and bureaucrat of the Imperial Court at Nara. He is best known as a leader of the Hossō sect of Buddhism and as the adversary of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu.

Career

In 717-718, he was part of the Japanese mission to Tang China (Kentōshi) along with Kibi no Makibi and Abe no Nakamaro. Genbō stayed in China for 17 years. Genbō brought many esoteric Buddhist texts with him when he returned to Japan.

At Kōfuku-ji, he was appointed abbot (sōjō) by Emperor Shōmu.

Timeline

  • 740 (Tenpyō 12): Hirotsugu petitioned for the removal of Genbō; and then Kibi no Makibi and Genbō used this complaint as a pretext to discredit Hirotsugu. As a result, Hirotsugu initiates a futile military campaign in the 9th month of the same year.
  • 745 (Tenpyō 17): Genbō was exiled to Dazaifu on the island of Kyushu.
  • At the time of Genbō's death, it was popularly believed that he was killed by the vengeful spirit of Hirotsugu.

    See also

  • Japanese missions to Imperial China
  • Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Johnny Bye Bye

    by: Bruce Springsteen

    Well she drew out all her money from the Southern Trust
    And put her little boy on the Greyhound Bus
    Leaving Memphis with a guitar in his hand
    With a one way ticket to the Promised Land
    Hey little girl with the red dress on
    There's party tonight down in Memphis down
    I'll be going down there if you need a ride
    The man on the radio says Elvis Presley's died
    We drove to Memphis the sky was hard and black
    Up over the ridge came a white Cadillac
    They drawed out all his money and they laid him in the back
    A woman cried from the roadside "Oh he's gone, he's gone"
    They found him slumped up against the drain
    With a whole lotta trouble running through his veins
    Bye bye Johnny
    Johnny bye Bye
    You didn't have to die
    You didn't have to die
    (All aboard!
    Train I ride...
    Sixteen coaches long)
    JUST LIKE A WOMAN (Bob Dylan/Bob Dylan)
    Nobody feels any pain
    Tonight as I stand inside the rain
    Everybody knows
    That baby has got me closed
    But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
    Have fallen from her curls
    She takes just like a woman, yes she does
    She makes love just like a woman, yes she does
    And she aches just like a woman
    But she breaks just like a little girl
    Queen Mary she's my friend
    Yes I believe I'll go see her again
    Nobody has to guess
    That baby can't be blessed
    'Till she finally sees
    That she's like all the rest
    With her fog her amphetamine and her pearls
    It was raining from the first
    And I was dying there of thirst
    So I came in here
    And your long time curse hurts
    But what's worse
    Is this pain in here
    I can't stay in here
    Ain't it clear that I just can't fit
    Yes I believe it's for us to quit
    When we meet again introduced as friends
    Please don't let on that you knew me when
    I was hungry and it was your world
    Ah you fake just like a woman, yes you do
    You make love just like a woman, yes you do
    And you ache just like a woman
    But you break just like a little girl




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