Ganshoni (願証尼)

Ganshoni (953-October 16, 1034) was a nun (Buddhist nun) of the Tendai sect in the mid Heian period. Her father was Masachika URABE and her mother came from the Kiyohara clan. She was the younger sister of her brother Genshin (a Buddhist priest) and sister Gansaini. She was also called "Anyoni." There is also a theory that she and Gansaini were the same person.

It is claimed that Ganshoni was determined to pursue Buddhism from her childhood, and once becoming a nun, she lived in Mt. Yoshino, Yamato Province, where she devoted herself to praying to the Amida Buddha and performed Jizoko (a Buddhist ritual praising the Jizo (Ksitigarbha)) on the eighth day of every month. Allegedly she died sitting upright and facing to the west.

[Original Japanese]