It is on record that Shōmu himself adopted the tonsure and took a Buddhist appellation. The mother of that sovereign, Miyako, and his consort, Kōmyō,--both daughters of Fujiwara Fubito--were most zealous devotees of Buddhism, and with their coöperation the sovereign established in the capital an asylum for the support of the destitute and a charity hospital, where the poor received medical treatment and drugs gratis. Measures were also taken to rescue foundlings, and in general to relieve poverty and distress. Tradition tells us that the empress cared for the sick to the number of nine hundred and ninety-nine. The thousandth patient was a miserable old man who asked her to suck pus from the ulcerated sores of his skin. As she cheerfully acceded to his wish, he was transfigured into a Buddha, and ascended into the air, blessing the imperial devotee whose faith he had come to test. Among the great subjects we also find instances such as those of Kamartari and Fuhito, of whom the former, though a minister of the court, built a temple and made his eldest son take orders, and the latter erected the temple of Kōfuku-ji and endowed it as the place of worship of the Fujiwara family. Among the priests of high rank, one whose name has been transmitted to posterity was Gyōgi. He became famous in the reign of the Empress Genshō,[1] and having won the confidence and respect of the next sovereign, Shōmu, he attained the rank of _Daisōjō_ (archbishop) and was subsequently worshiped as a saint under the title of "Bosatsu." It was by this prelate that the doctrine of successive incarnations of the Buddha was first enunciated, a doctrine whose skillful application greatly served the cause of Buddhism. For though the creed obtained such influence and success in the times now under consideration, its universal acceptance by the people encountered a strong obstacle in their traditional belief that the Shintō deities, not Buddha, had founded the state, bequeathed its scepter to their posterity, and prescribed a creed with which the very existence of the nation was bound up. This difficulty, however, the Buddhist priests adroitly met by the aid of the doctrine that Gyōgi taught. The goddess Amaterasu had been only an incarnation of Birushanabutsu, and all the deities of the land were but the Buddha himself in various human forms. By this skillful reasoning they dispelled the inherited prejudices of the people and gave a great impulse to the spread of their creed. Gyōgi, Dōshō, Ryōben, and others acquired notable influence with the masses, and, aided by their pupils, preached in such manner as to popularize Buddhism throughout the land. About this era, also, many priests came to Japan from China. It would appear, nevertheless, that side by side with the spread of Buddhist conviction the doctrine of fate and fortune was taught and the necessity of vows and penances inculcated, to the delusion and demoralization of ignorant folks.