2017 China-Canada-US Buddhist Forum at Cham Shan Temple in Toronto

I am glad to attend the China-Canada-Buddhist Forum organized by Cham Shan Temple 湛山精舍 in Toronto from June 15-22 2017.

I presented my research on Yinyuan and the Nagasaki overseas Chinese community 日本黄檗宗開山祖師中國禅僧隐元隆琦東渡之謎再探：以長崎的禪宗與海外華人社區為中心.

Conference on Buddhist Texts in Modern East Asia at Fo Guang Buddhist University

I am glad to be invited to attend the first international conference on Research of Modern East Asian Buddhist Texts at Fo Guang University on June 9, 2017 第一屆「近世東亞佛教的文獻和研究」國際學術研討會，6月9日於佛光大學. I presented a paper on the rare Buddhist texts preserved in the Bunkaden Archive at Manpukuji 日本宇治黄檗山萬福寺文華殿所藏近代東亞佛教文獻初探.

Koryo Museum of Art in Kyoto 高麗美術館

I was glad to visit Koryo Museum of Art in Kyoto 高麗美術館 and watched an exhibition on the great Japanese scholar of Korean history Ueda Masaaki上田正昭. The museum was founded by the Japanese Korean Chun Chumon 鄭詔文. The museum is not big but has some collection on Joseon Missions to Japan 朝鲜通信使.

Miidera 三井寺 and the Revolving Canon 輪藏

We are glad to visit the Tendai monastery Miidera 三井寺 or Onjoji園城寺, which is one of the most famous temples in Japan. It was burnt down and rebuilt several times and the current structure was built in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.  What attracted me is the device of the Revolving Canon 輪藏 which was moved here in 1602. It is supposed to hold the entire Goryeo Canon or Tripitaka Koreana but can not revolve. The device was invented by Fudashi 傅大士 in China in the sixth century. The altar for him and his two sons has disappeared. I have a discussion about this device in my paper collected in Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asian: The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon.
Here is the full reference:
From the "Cult of the Book" to the "Cult of the Canon": A Neglected Tradition in Chinese Buddhism, by Jiang Wu
In Wu, Jiang and Lucille Chia. 2015. Spreading buddha's word in east asia: The formation and transformation of the chinese buddhist canon. New York: Columbia University Press.

Photo by Jiang Wu

Photo by Jiang Wu

Photo by Jiang Wu

Iwakura Mansion 岩倉具視幽棲旧宅 and Taigaku Archive 対岳文庫

Photo by Jiang Wu

I happened to be in the region close to the Old Iwakura Mansion 岩倉具視幽棲旧宅 where Iwakura Tomomi 岩倉具視 (1825 –1883), the major plotter of the Meiji restoration, lived in exile before the restoration. It is a nice compound with an achieve of historical materials (Taigaku Archive 対岳文庫) related to him. I have been working on the relationship between him and the Obaku canon 黄檗藏 he sent to the India Office Library in London after his famous travel in America and Europe in 1872. Although I didn't find anything in the archive, it was nice to visit the place in such a pleasant weather.

Photo by Jiang Wu

Photo by Jiang Wu

Photo by Jiang Wu

Eizan Bunko 叡山文庫 and Tenkai Canon 天海藏

We are glad to visit Eizan Bunko at Enryakuji 比叡山延暦寺. Although we mostly examine Shingon texts in the twelvth century, it is a treasure of Buddhist texts, including a complete Tenkai canon 天海藏 carved with movable types. This canon was carved before the Tetsugen Obaku Canon and was not researched very well. It seems that this edition in Eizan was donated by the Obaku monk Ryōō 了翁. See a few references below.

天海蔵について : 日光天海蔵を中心に

叡山文庫文書絵図目錄 /
Eizan Bunko monjo ezu mokuroku

Author: 延暦寺編. ; Eizan Bunko.; Enryakuji (Ōtsu-shi, Japan)
Publisher: 臨川書店, Kyōto-shi : Rinsen Shoten, Heisei 6 [1994]

古書の整理と発見(3)--叡山文庫
Author: 長沢 規矩也
Edition/Format: Article Article
Publication: 日本古書通信 / 日本古書通信社 [編]. v30 n10 (1965-10):

叡山文庫天海蔵識語集成 /
Eizan Bunko Tenkaizō shikigo shūsei
Author: 天海, 1536-1643. 叡山文庫調查会編著. ; Tenkai; Eizan Bunko Chōsakai.
Publisher: [叡山文庫調查会], [Kyoto] : [Eizan Bunko Chōsakai], Heisei 12 [2000]

新抄物資料集成 /
Shin Shōmono shiryō shūsei
Author: 大塚光信編. 惟高妙安, 大塚光信, ; ; Ikō Myōan; Mitsunobu Ōtsuka
Publisher: 清文堂, Ōsaka-shi : Seibundō, 2000-

了翁の一切経寄進について--叡山文庫生源寺蔵鉄眼版一切経と天台宗寺院への寄進
Author: 渡辺 麻里子; ワタナベ マリコ; Watanabe Mariko
Edition/Format: Article Article : Japanese
Publication: 山家学会紀要 / 山家学会 [編]. n9 (2007-7): 21-36

Special Exhibition on Fushimi castle and Yodo castle 伏見城と淀城 at Kyoto City Archaeological Museum 京都市考古資料館

During my stay in Kyoto, there was a special exhibition on the Fushimi castle and Yodo castle 伏見城と淀城 at Kyoto City Archaeological Museum 京都市考古資料館. Because Manpukuji 萬福寺 is located close to these two strategic towns in southern Kyoto, it is very important to understand the history of these two castles. The rise of these two castles has a lot to do with the transportation, fishing industry, and military actions during the Edo period. In front of the museum, there was a huge stele on Nishijin 西陣 textile. The building used to be a museum for Nishijin textile industry.

Manuscript Buddhist Canon in Matsuo Shrine 松尾大社 and Myorenji 妙蓮寺 May 29 2017

As part of the Canadian project "From the Ground up," one of our missions in Japan is to investigate the Matsuo Canon  松尾社一切經 preserved in Myorenji  妙蓮寺. According to George Keyworth, the copies were commissioned by the Hata 秦 clan around the early twelfth century and were stored in the Matsuo Shinto Shrine 松尾大社. After their creation, the copies were checked by monks from Enryakuji 延暦寺 and Miidera 三井寺 , which we also visited and seem to have formed a monastic network. They were added continuously in later times and in the late nineteenth century were purchased by Myorenji where 3545 rolls of the canon were discovered in 1993. It was a great experience to examine these precious scriptures.

Here are a few references for research.

Apocryphal Chinese books in the Buddhist canon at Matsuo Shintō shrine by George A. Keyworth

日本現存八種一切経対照目錄 /
Nihon genzon hasshu Issaikyō taishō mokuroku
Author: 国際仏教学大学院大学学術フロンティア実行委員会. ; ; Kokusai Bukkyōgaku Daigakuin Daigaku Gakujutsu Furontia Jikkō Iinkai.
Publisher: 国際仏教学大学院大学学術フロンティア実行委員会, Tōkyō : Kokusai Bukkyōgaku Daigakuin Daigaku Gakujutsu Furontia Jikkō Iinkai, Heisei 18 [2006]
http://www.icabs.ac.jp/frontia/Hachishu

京都妙蓮寺蔵「松尾社一切経」調查報告書 /
Kyōto Myōrenji zō "Matsuosha issaikyō" chōsa hōkokusho
Author: [編集中尾堯]. 中尾堯, ; ; Takashi Nakao; Myōrenji (Kyoto, Japan)
Publisher: 大塚巧芸社, Tōkyō : Ōtsuka Kōgeisha, Heisei 9 [1997]

Myorenji Garden. photo by Jiang Wu

Matsuo Shrine Garden

Matsuo Shrine