The Transcription of the Shōbōgenzō at Kōkenji Temple in Kawagoe City

Abstract

This study examines the transcription of the Shōbōgenzō during the late Edo period. The survey target was the Shōbōgenzō manuscript copied by Iwata Raihō 岩田来鳳 (?–1886) at the Kōkenji 孝顕寺 in Kawagoe 川越 city toward the end of the Edo period. According to appended materials, in this book the marginal notes were transcribed by Iichi Jōin 惟一成允 (1788–1861) and Gettan Zenryū 月潭全龍 (?–1865), who were Genzōka 眼蔵家 (specialists in the Shōbōgenzō) at the time. In this study, I have compared the text and marginal notes with related books such as the Shōbōgenzō copied by Kaiden 戒傳. I discovered that the text was influenced by the editions of Kōzen 晃全 and Manzan 卍山. Therefore, the conventional perception that most of the Shōbōgenzō manuscripts after the publication of the Eiheiji 永平寺 edition were transcripts of the Eiheiji edition needs to be revised. Additionally, I confirmed that marginal notes match across multiple transcripts, and discovered that Genzōka marginal notes were transcribed and propagated by multiple scribes.