Dogen Sangha (2) Before the Sprout

It might be inevitable for me as a human being to be influenced by genes following the Rule of Cause and Effect. Therefore I would like to write a very short record of my grandparents and my own parents for reference of my becoming a Buddhist monk.

Grandparents on the Father's Side

The grandfather was called Tanemi Koganemaru, who was a warrior of the Fukuoka Feudal Clan. And even though the Fukuoka Feudal Clan was loyal to the Tokugawa Government, he was very enthusiastic about establishing the new Imperial Government. Therefore before the establishment of the Imperial Government, the grandfather was caught by the police of the Clan, and he was in a jail in the castle when the Imperial Government was established. Therefore he could become free at that time suddenly, and came back to his family life. On the west side of Fukuoka City there is a small mountain called Kaya Mountain, (or Tsukushi Fuji), and at the foot of the mountain, there was a village called Koganemaru Village, where almost all families were called Koganemaru. And it is said that a warrior called Kuniomi Hirano stayed with the main family of the village, and later he became the leader of the revolt at Ikuno Silver Mine in Hyogo Prefecture against the Tokugawa Government, and so we can guess that the grandfather might have been much influenced by Hirano's instuctions of loyality to the Imperial Government.

After the establishment of the Imperial Government because of situations, of which I have explained a little above, the grandfather worked as an assistant of Soho Tokutomi, who was very famous as a historian at that time. However, it seems that the grandfather was not so happy in his economical conditions.

The grandmother was so diligent to bring up two sons by herself alone during her husband's absence from his family life, and of the two brothers, the younger one was my father, Iwao Nishijima. The grandfather had taken off his family name by the Clan when he was in the jail, and so he was given the new family name from the Clan, the name Nishijima.

Grandparents on the Mother's Side

The grandfather on the mother's side was called Sukeyoshi Terai, who was a warrior of the Tokugawa Government, and so after the Imperial Government established, he followed the Tokugawa Governmental Army for fighting against the new Government to Aizu City in the North-East District of Japan. However, he was a very sincere believer in a personal God called Sugawara Michizane, and so when he dreamt that Sugawara Michizane appeared in a dream, advising him to return to Tokyo, he followed such advice, and he came back to Tokyo. Later he became an officer in Yokohama City as the chief of a section. At the same time he was a teacher of Haiku in a traditional old style. When my mother was very young, his wife died, and so my mother was brought up by the new mother in law.