Colophon; debate; medieval Japanese Buddhism; scholar monks; shōgyō; Sōshō; Tōdaiji
摘要
Scholar monks of medieval Japan produced a vast body of manuscripts called shōgyō. This paper focuses on shōgyō of the Tōdaiji monk Sōshō (1202–1278), especially his colophons (okugaki). In examining medieval shōgyō manuscripts in general and Sōshō’s in particular, modern scholars have tended to concentrate on what Markus Schiegg calls the ‘assertive’ aspect of a colophon, that is, a colophon that ‘tells us something about the scribe and the scribal context’. Although this scholarship has contributed greatly to advancing a material-cultural approach to Sōshō’s texts by situating them in their original contexts of production, little attempt has been made to explore the ‘expressive’ aspect of his colophons, that is, colophons expressing Sōshō’s own feelings and wishes. Therefore, I compare Sōshō’s assertive colophons with his expressive colophons, with an emphasis on the latter. In so doing I reveal the rich textual universe of Sōshō’s colophons that defies our assumed distinction between a text and a paratext, or between the main text and its colophon that supplies information about the main text, the author, or the scribe. Sōshō’s colophons often exceed these expected functions in their eloquent expression of feelings and wishes that are largely irrelevant to the main text.
目次
Sōshō’s Colophons: Formal and Contextual Quality 50 Sōshō’s Colophons Both Assertive and Expressive 53 Sōshō’s Colophons Largely Irrelevant to the Text 56 Conclusion 63
