Author/compiler: Eikan 永觀, Jōdo monk of Zenrinji monastery, Kyōto, 1033-1111. Imprint: [Nara ?] , Hōji 2, 1248. Ganshu: Ōjō 往成. Kango on last folio recto reads: 此十因者為刻彫印字寫作者草本一點 ／ 二盡 (ママ) [= 畫] 敢莫取捨唯仰先師之筆跡擬備結 ／ 緣之指南矣 ／ 覽治二年戊申仲春日 願主比丘往成. Description: 1 kan, 1 jō. Originally bound in detchō style, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. [80] . 25.3 x 15.3 cm. Blockprint, printed on both sides of each sheet. Printing frame 21 x 14 cm. No borders. Text paper sprinkled with mica dust. Kanbun text, with manuscript okurigana and kaeriten in black and some kutōten and shubiki in red ink added in late-Muromachi period. 6 lines to page, 17 characters to line. Original front cover of the same greyish recycled ganpi paper as text pages. Handwritten title slip of white paper added in Meiji period, bearing gedai: 念仏宗永観草 ／ 往成拾因 ／ 宝治二年仲春 ／ 開版. Naidai and gedai identical. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: Jōdokyō-ban. First edition of this work. Later editions were published in Genna / Kan'ei period, Shōhō 2 (1645), Manji 3 (1660) and Kanbun 9 (1669). After Ōjō yōshū 往生要集, this was the second Jōdo Buddhist work by a Japanese author to be printed in Japan. Contents: A basic Jōdo 浄土 work, written by Eikan 永觀 in Kōwa 5 康和五年, 1103, expounding the ten conditions necessary to facilitate rebirth in the Western Paradise for the believer who single-mindedly recites the nenbutsu 念仏.
Ōjō jūin 往生拾因
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or.59.b.25
- Dates of Creation
- 1248
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 1 volume Condition: Fair. Considerable worm damage (unrepaired), especially near beginning and end. A clean copy, but with some water stains at bottom edge. Impression: A fairly clear impression, but blocks show marked signs of wear. Seals of ownership: Small red seal in a double circle, Kanebumi 兼文, on front cover title slip, suggesting that Nishimura Kanebumi 西村兼文 may have had some involvement in Satow's book collecting activities. Manuscript notes: 2-line quotation from a sutra, the Engakukyō 円覚経, on mikaeshi: 始知衆生本來成佛 ／ 生死涅般猶如昨夢. Also on mikaeshi, a note in black ink datable to Muromachi period or earlier: 心蓮院之 □ (last character obliterated).
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Acquired from Ernest M. Satow, 22 Sept. 1884.
Other Finding Aids
Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993). B. Buddhist works 仏書 4. Jōdo, jōdo shinshū sects 浄土・浄土真宗
Bibliography
Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, p. 44; Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 仏書解説大辞典, vol. 1, p. 360; Jōdokyō-ban no kenkyū 浄土教版の研究, pp. 60-1; Nihon koinsatsu bunkashi 日本古印刷文化史, p. 480; Nichirenshū jiten 日蓮宗事典, p. 34; Keiō gijuku toshokan-zō wakanjo zenpon kaidai 慶応義塾図書館蔵和漢書善本解題, p. 109.