Shinran 親鸞 （1173-1262） is said to have returned to his hometown of Kyoto after engaging in missionary work in the Kantō region for approximately 20 years, passing through Hakone 箱根 on the way. Various reports that a local person had an encounter with Shinran circulated. I discuss the way in which this tradition grew.
When Shinran and his disciples took a break on a flat area （Oinotaira 笈の平; present-day Amazake chaya-shita 甘酒茶屋下）, Shinran told Shōsin 性信, one of the disciples who returned to Kantō, to continue missionary work in his place on behalf of Shinran. It is said that Shōsin put the items he had received from Shinran in his bag and returned to Kanto tearfully.
This tradition occurred under the influence of the Bandō Hōonji 坂東報恩寺 in the middle of the Edo period, and temples of the Hakone district participated in it during a period from the late Edo to the beginning of the Meiji period.
