The Jōdo monrui jushō 浄土文類聚鈔 is a book in which Shinran (1173–1262) outlines his main work Ken Jōdo shinjitsu kyōgyōshō monrui (顕浄土真実教行証文類, usually referred to more briefly as the Kyōgyōshinshō). Although Shinran’s original manuscript is not extant, there are several medieval copies of this text.
This paper discusses three new insights learned from a recently discovered copy of the Jōdo monrui jushō which is possessed in Manshoji 満性寺 in Aichi. First, an examination of the kanji characters reveals that the handwriting displays characteristics unique to Shinne (真慧, 1435–1512), and thus it is determined that the copyist was Shinne. Second, the unique reading marks (kaeriten) and other notation marks used in this copy indicate that the original manuscript copied by Shinne may have been Shinran’s original, or a copy very close to Shinran’s original. Reading marks are usually added to the left side of kanji characters of Chinese text to help readers read the passage as Japanese. It is believed that Shinne had easy access to Shinran’s original manuscripts as he was the head priest of Senjuji 専修寺 in Mie, which owns the largest number of Shinran’s original manuscripts. Third, further study of this manuscript may allow us to identify the time when Shinran composed the Jōdo monrui jushō because this manuscript faithfully reproduces the unique penmanship of Shinran himself. This third point could help resolve the decades-long academic debate as to whether this text was written before or after the Ken Jōdo shinjitsu kyōgyōshō monrui.
Although it is unfortunate that the last page of the manuscript is missing, this newly discovered handwritten copy provides important new information to help answer bibliographic questions related to the Jōdo monrui jushō.
