A Buddhist ritual, preserved at Mount Koya

Kukai. Kongocho yuga rengebu daigiki Kojima ryu [Record of the Great Rite of the Lotus Division, Kojima lineage].

€ 9,500.00

A rare survival of medieval Japanese esoteric ritual transmission. This manuscript preserves, in complete form, a Shingon rite-book of the Kojima lineage, still retaining its old pasted-leaf structure.

The text sets out, in practical and authoritative form, how a specific branch of esoteric Buddhist ritual was to be performed. The "Lotus Division" refers to one section of the Vajrasekhara system of Shingon practice, and the manuscript would have guided the officiant through the correct ceremonial sequence, recitations, and ritual actions. Rather than serving as a book for reading alone, manuscripts of this kind were practical vehicles of instruction, used to transmit authorised ceremonial knowledge from one generation to the next.

Its connection with Koyasan makes the present copy especially compelling. Mount Koya, founded by Kukai, became one of the principal centres of Japanese esoteric Buddhism, and lineages such as Kojima belonged to the learned ritual culture through which Shingon doctrine and practice were preserved in institutional settings.

Complete medieval Shingon ritual manuscripts of clear temple origin rarely appear on the market, and this copy is further distinguished by its identifiable provenance from Shochi-in at Koyasan.