Ji-shu

Ji-shū (時宗, lit. time sect) is a Japanese school of Pure Land Buddhism founded by the itinerant ascetic Ippen and his disciples. The school has around 500 temples and 3,400,000 followers. The school is also known for its practices of dancing nembutsu (nembutsu odori) and for the distribution of nembutsu talismans (ofuda). Shōjōkō-ji (清浄光寺), a temple located in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, serves as the headquarters of the sect today.

Ji-shū means "school of time" and the name is derived from its central practice of chanting the Nembutsu at regular intervals. This refers to specific periods of intense uninterrupted nembutsu practice that Ippen's group would undertake at certain times of the year. During these retreats, different monks would take turns in leading the chant during the six four-hour periods of the day. According to J. H. Foard, the intended meaning of the term is equivalent to “twenty four hours a day nembutsu group.”

Ji-shū is one of the four Pure Land Tradition (Jōdo kei, 浄土系) schools of Japanese Buddhism, the others being Jōdo-shū, the Jōdo Shinshu, and Yuzu Nembutsu.