Jōden shōnin tōiki nenbutsu riyaku den 貞傳上人東域念佛利益傳 [Record of the Holy Jōden's Good Works & Recitations of the Name of the Buddha]

One full-page woodcut of an ornate Buddhist altar. 58; 62.5 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. blue patterned semi-stiff wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. [Kyoto]: [Kōshōdō 向松堂], [1737].




Apparently the first edition of this hagiography of the Pure Land monk Jōden (1690-1731), who was affiliated with Honkaku-ji temple 本覚寺 in Aomori. Jōden worked to spread the Buddhist faith among the common people of northeastern Japan. He might also have travelled to Hokkaido, which in this period was a frontier zone not yet fully integrated into the Japanese polity or culture. Among Jōden's works, as recounted in our book, we find the curing of disease, assisting in difficult births by reciting the name of the Buddha, the fighting of a locust infestation by reciting the Buddha's name one million times, and the saving of victims of a shipwreck through the name of Amitabha Buddha.


Hōshū (d. 1738), the author of our book and many others, was also a monk. His erudition is evident here, as he cited a number of Buddhist works in his hagiography (Kaneko, 196-97).


There is a Preface by Genyo Shūhaku 嚴譽穐白, dated 1737 (Genbun 2), and an Afterword by Hōshū dated 1736 (Genbun 1).


Fine set. Minor, and mostly marginal, worming in the second volume. WorldCat lists only one copy (Bukkyo University).



References


Kaneko Kansai 金子寬哉. "Jōden shōnin tōiki nenbutsu riyaku den ni tsuite" 貞伝上人東域念仏利益伝について. Taishō daigaku kenkyū kiyō 大正大學研究紀要 61 (1975).