Priest Kanze was a sculptor of Buddhist images in the capital and a devoted reciter of the Hokekyō. He daily recited one chapter thirty-three times and tried to memorize the Chapter of Fumon [Universal Gateway]. He observed the precepts and paid homage to Kannon on the eighteenth of each month.

At the request of a patron, Kanze went to the Kuwata District of Tanba Province to make a Buddhist image. The patron who wished to have a Buddhist image was not a good man but practised evil. As Kanze finished the image, the patron rewarded him with various gifts and sent him off to the capital. Yet the patron wanted to recover the gifts from Kanze.

He ambushed and killed Kanze in Mount Ōe and took back the gifts to his home.

Now the patron wanted to see the Kannon image which was made by Kanze. He opened the doors of the temple hall where the image was kept. Behold! The golden image of Kannon had a slashed shoulder. The blood streamed from the wound and coagulated in a pool on the floor. The frightened and grieved patron thought, “I have killed the priest by slashing his shoulder. Now I see that the Kannon statue has a cut shoulder. This is most extraordinary.”

The patron immediately sent a messenger to the capital to investigate the sculptor, Kanze. The messenger went to the capital and found that Kanze was safely at home. When the messenger returned to the patron in Tanba and reported the news, the patron was awestruck and repented. He realized that the Kannon image had received the injuries instead of Kanze to save its sculptor.

The remorseful patron went to Kanze, offered him gifts, and asked various questions. Kanze said, “A thief robbed me as I returned to the capital, but I was not injured at all and arrived here safely, thanks to the protection of Kannon.”

All who heard this, including the patron, became pious, acquired faith in Kannon, and recited the Hokekyō. This happened in the second year of Ōwa. (Page 108)