Mannen-san Shokoku Jotenzen-ji Ekou Narabini Sho and Asikaga Yoshimitsu

In medieval Japan, the eight kenmitsu (exoteric-esoteric) Buddhism sects: the six sects of the Southern capital, the Tendai sect, and the Shingon sect, established orthodox Buddhism and became the mainstream of the Buddhist rituals. In the Kamakura period, however, Zen monks introduced Chinese Buddhist services and ascetic rules from Southern Sou and Yuan, from which point on the new Chinese-style Buddhist services spread into the Japanese society. During the Muromachi period, the zen Buddhist services started to incorporate Japanese elements, which was a new turn Japanese Buddhism took. Mannen-san Shokoku Jotenzen-ji ekou narabini sho, a document brought to one of the five great Zen temples in Kyoto, Shokoku-ji, provides important information on Zen Buddhist services during the Muromachi period and shows extensive practice of Zen services during that time. This paper analyses the structure and the content of this historical document, which has not been fully examined. The Shokoku temple was built by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who united the court nobles and samurai warriors. Yoshimitsu constantly performed big Buddhist services in this temple, through which the Muromachi shogunate promoted Buddhist policies to the public