Japan: Portrait of the Buddhist monk Honen by Fujiwara Takanobu, 12th Century

Honen (May 13, 1133 - February 29, 1212) was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jodo Shu ('The Pure Land School'). In the related Jodo Shinshu sect, he is considered the Seventh Patriarch. Hoonen became a monk of the Tendai sect at an early age, but grew disaffected, and sought an approach to Buddhism that anyone could follow, even during the perceived Age of Dharma Decline. After discovering the writings of Chinese Buddhist, Shan-tao, he undertook the teaching of rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha through reciting the Buddha's name, or nembutsu.