The making of the Yongle Northern canon 永樂北藏 began in 1419 (Yongle 17), and was finished twenty-one years later. Since the Yongle Northern canon was printed with wooden blocks, the contents of various reprints are the same. However, the colophons of the different printings vary because of different donors, publication locations (Buddhist monasteries), and times. The colophons of the Yongle Northern canon held at Princeton University and the Liaoning 遼寧 Province Public Library provide precious information about the locations of Buddhist monasteries where they were originally stored. The colophons of the Yongle Northern canon in the Chongqing Library provide precious information about Chinese Buddhism in the Republican era. Thus, the colophons in the Yongle Northern canon contain important information that scholars should not ignore in their research.
