Heir to a long Dharma tradition going back twelve generations, the Thirteenth Head Priest of Shogyoji Temple, Venerable Reion Takehara (1876-1951), rescued the temple from decline, turning it once more into a temple fully endowed with the Triple Treasure (Buddha, Dharma and Samgha) where people could solve their real, every day problems whilst maintaining pure faith as the very centre of their lives. Born in 1876, Venerable Takehara was exposed as a young man not only to upheavals of the state (the Meiji Reform) but also to the restoration movement in Shin Buddhism itself. It so happened that he studied at the Shinshu Chugaku (Shin Buddhist Middle School) under the then Head Master of the school, the Venerable Manshi Kiyozawa, himself a great leader of the Shin Buddhist restoration movement at that time. In 1907 Venerable Takehara found himself facing a very serious problem. It caused him immense suffering, but, on coming upon a passage from The Larger Sutra of Eternal Life, Venerable Takehara was finally awakened to true faith. Following his attainment of faith Venerable Takehara was very pleased to make the acquaintance of Venerable Jokan Chikazumi.