Chen Yuanyun陳元贇 (1587-1671) is a significant figure in the history of modern Sino-Japanese cultural exchange. The majority of related academic research, however, has focused on his personal life and social networks, thereby rarely discussing his literary achievements, Buddhist thought, and more broadly, contributions to the history of Chinese and Japanese culture. Therefore, the present article investigates his poetry in Yuanyuan changhe ji元元唱和集 (Gengen shouwa shu), written with the Nichiren Buddhist Gensei元政 (1623-1668) while traveling between Kyoto and Owari during the Manji-Kanbun period (1660-1662), the poetry collection Sheng'an shi hua昇庵詩話posthumously compiled by others, as well as additional writings handed down over time. This article attempts to study the origin of his literary and Buddhist thoughts, appropriately situate his writings within East Asia Chinese literature, and both further and supplement our understanding of the foreign dissemination of Gong'an公安iterature in the late Ming dynasty and of the development of Chinese poetry.
