Higashi Honganji Temple, the headquarters of the Shinshu Otani sect of Buddhism, in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, held the "Bando-bushi" service on November 28, the last day of "Hoonko," a memorial service in honor of Shinran, the sect's founder. In the Bando-bushi service, seated monks dynamically swayed their upper bodies while chanting sutras.

The service was held for the first time in six years in Goeido Hall upon its restoration being completed. The hall was packed with approximately 6,000 followers, who had lined up before dawn.

At just past 10:00a.m., some 180 monks gathered in Goeido Hall. As they moved their upper bodies back and forth and side to side, their voices echoed through the hall as they intoned "Nembutsu" prayers and "Wasan" hymns with unique inflections.

The style of Bando-bushi is said to represent the image of Shinran, who continued offering fervent prayers on a boat rocked by rough water when he was exiled to Echigo, the old name for Niigata Prefecture, about 800 years ago.