Konko Shijin-Sama was the second Konko-Sama who succeeded the Mediation of the Founder and performed it for ten years after the Founder's death (1883). ?His original name was Konko Ieyoshi, but the name of "Konko Shijin" is the divine title given by Kami.

Though Konko Shijin-Sama was born in 1854 as the fifth son of the Founder, his birth year was registered in the next year because of a belief, common in those days saying, "If forty-two-year-old person has a two-year-old child, the person would encounter critical hardship." ?Afterward he got seriously ill at the age of six. ?When the Founder prayed for Kami to ask his recovery, Kami-Sama mentioned the alteration of the birth age. ?As soon as the Founder put back his son's ?registration to its original date, the boy recovered completely from his illness.　As he grew older, Konko Shijin-Sama began to gradually realize that his life, which was nearly lost at that young age, must had been saved by the faith of the Founder. ?Konko Shijin-Sama grew up with this back ground. ?After he became an adult, he devoted himself to the sacred task of staying near the Founder and observing for himself how people survived difficult challenges through the Mediation of the Founder.

After Konko Shijin-Sama succeeded the Mediation of the Founder, secretly continued to train himself and read the Founder's memoir. In this way, he progressed in deepening his faith and truly understanding his father's sincere faith.
Every morning at four o'clock, he got up so early and worshipped Kami-Sama, never going to bed before midnight because, he said, "There are some Ujikos who work till twelve o'clock." He sat in the Hiromae all day long from dawn, and even if there was only one Ujiko in the Hiromae, he would never leave the Mediation Seat. Very often he didn't eat any meal all day long.

One autumn night four years after the Founder's death, Reverend Norio Sato, one of the Founder's disciples, asked, "Konko-Sama, your work is too severe. I think it's not good for your health." ?Konko Shijin-Sama answered, "I do not do everything by myself at all. ?After twelve o'clock every night, my late father appears, and continuously prays sitting next to the notebooks, in which I recorded the people's wishes, requests, and expressions of appreciation for three years. ?That is why I could perform Mediation although I don't have enough divine virtue." ?Reverend Sato was surprised, and filled with a sense of mystery and awe.

Konko Shijin-Sama preached teachings of the Founder to every visitor, being sure to adjust his re-telling of the ideas so that everyone could more clearly understand the teaching. ?He made cultivation of the Konko Faith his life's divine work and found great pleasure in devoting himself to spreading the true faith as it had been practiced by Konko Daijin. Believers who followed him requested Mediation and received divine blessings. Thus, the Konkokyo community and the Founder's disciples recovered from sadness of the Founder's death and were re-invigorated and motivated by this validation of the faith. ?"Now, due to Konko Shijin-Sama's Mediation, the sacred virtue of Ikigami-Sama is glowing so strongly, the way is opened widely and people of the world can be saved." ?Konko Shijin-Sama performed the Mediation for only ten years. Meanwhile the Konkokyo was, the number of young missionaries grew, the Way spread as far north as Hokkaido, and as far south as Kyushu, and the today's foundation of the Konkokyo was built.

The second Konko-Sama left these words just before he passed away at the age of forty,

"I might have died when I was six years old. It was thanks to Kami that I was saved by my father's wholehearted prayers. I do not care if I die. If I died when I was six, it would have been the end of my life. I'd have no regrets."

From his words, we can know his unlimited appreciation that he could live a long life till age forty, and could serve Kami-Sama through the Founder's prayers and blessings.