Junsai ［遵西］ (d. 1207): Also known as Anraku or Anraku-bō. A disciple of Hōnen, the founder of the Pure Land (Jōdo) school in Japan. Born in Kyoto, Junsai actively propagated the Pure Land, or Nembutsu, teachings (centering on the Nembutsu, or the invocation of Amida Buddha’s name), journeying to Kamakura to disseminate them. Hōnen wrote The Nembutsu Chosen above All in 1198, and as his followers gradually increased in number, criticism from older Buddhist schools intensified. The priests at Kōfuku-ji in Nara, Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei, and other temples repeatedly petitioned the imperial court to outlaw the Pure Land school. In 1206, when the Retired Emperor Gotoba was away from Kyoto on a pilgrimage to Kumano Shrine, disciples of Hōnen including Junsai and Jūren held a Nembutsu ceremony at Shishigatani in Kyoto. A number of court ladies in the service of Gotoba attended this ceremony and without court consent renounced secular life to become nuns. This incident incurred the anger of the retired emperor, and in the second month of the following year, Hōnen was sent into exile, while Junsai and Jūren were executed along with two other disciples of Hōnen.