Among Japanese monks who came to China to learn (Chinese) Buddhism, Junreng (1166-1227) is one to whom few scholars have paid attention. As a prominent monk in Kamakura Japan, he was known as the first patriarch of the Vinaya lineage of the Northern Capital. Seeing the disciplinary laxity of Japanese monasteries, Junreng went to Southern Song China in 1199. During the next twenty years, he travelled all over China, associated widely with literati, and studied with eminent monks. This paper investigates Junreng's social and religious activities in China by using all available documentary sources. This paper will fill a blank chapter in the study of the spread of Chinese Buddhism into Japan during the twelfth century.
