Letter to the Nun Jōjūbō

Throughout his life Myōe maintained an active correspondence of which more than twenty letters survive.[1] Some, quite lengthy, provide intimate glimpses into his thoughts, relationships, and circumstances. Other brief notes, such as this one written in response to a query by one Jōjūbō, are difficult to interpret. Since this letter has not previously been published or scrutinized by Myōe scholars, the following discussion remains tentative pending a definitive transcription of its text. The letter reads: "I am completely involved with a commentary on the Manifestation Chapter. As for whether to [live at, construct] the buddha­ place (bussho) by yourself, I really do not know. Regretfully, fifth day. Kōben. To Jōjūbō.”

Despite its brevity the letter suggests a date, recipient, and context. The first sentence provides a significant clue to the letter's date. Manifestation Chapter (Shutsugen-bon) denotes chapter 37 of the Flower Garland Sutra.[2] According to Kikai's official Life of Myōe, Myōe carried out discussions on a commentary to this chapter with his followers during the seventh and eighth months of 1221.[3] Kikai generally kept a careful record of his teacher's scholarly activities, and since this reference appears to be the only specific mention of the Manifestation Chapter in Kikai's text or elsewhere, the letter may be tentatively dated to autumn 1221. Due to disruptions at Jingoji and Kōzanji during the Shōkyū War that summer, Myōe and his followers had moved to a retreat behind the Kamo Shrine in north-central Kyoto. There they copied sutras, engaged in scholarly discussions, and interacted with a variety of patrons.

Comparison of this letter with examples of Myōe's calligraphy from 1220–22 supports this dating and also aid in its transcription. (See the appendix for a discussion of the mounting.) Not long after the Shōkyū War Myōe also wrote a long letter to a nun named Inouedono.[4] In both letters, Myōe's cursive Chinese characters form heavy accents within his otherwise fluid and connected hiragana script, a combination he may have used exclusively in correspondence with women. His spacing between lines and characters and the fluctuations from wet to dry ink also link the two letters. In addition the Chinese characters in both most resemble Myōe's calligraphy in volume 10 of the Dream Record, which records dreams from 1220 through 1222.[5]

The monastic nickname Jōjūbō ("complete attainment'') appears in a few revealing inscriptions on manuscripts in the Kozanji storehouse, all referring to a nun (bikuni). The earliest inscription, dated the ninth month of 1210, was written by Myōe on an Esoteric practice manual. In it he says that he wrote the text for teaching a secret dharani (a mystic spell) while instructing Jōjūbō in this practice.[6] Myōe was then living at Sakiyama in Kii province under the protection of his maternal aunt and foster mother, known as "the Sakiyama nun”. Jōjūbō must have been a member of the Sakiyama or Yuasa families, many of whom became nuns after their husbands died. Since Myōe taught Jōjūbō a secret chanting practice, we should assume he held her in high regard. A second reference to Jōjūbō appears much later, after Myōe's death, in an inscription on a copy of the Flower Garland Sutra written by Kikai in 1236. In his inscription Kikai reports that Jōjūbō of Zenmyōji died on the twenty-third day of the seventh month. These two inscriptions document a twenty-six-year relationship between Jōjūbō and Myōe's circle. Assuming she was an adult of Myōe's age or older in 1210, she would have been at least in her sixties at her death.

Kikai's description of Jōjūbō as a Zenmyōji nun also hints at her importance to Myōe and Kikai. Might the cryptic reference to a "buddha-place" in the second sentence of this letter refer to plans for the building of Zenmyōji, in which Jōjūbō played a role? Given the closeness to Myōe, the teacher­ student relationship, and her age, perhaps Myōe even invited her to Zenmyōji to serve in a position of responsibility. Indeed Myōe mentions several Sakiyama and Yuasa nuns in volume 10 of the Dream Record mentioned above. While the name Jōjūbō does not appear in the diary, "the Sakiyama nun”, "the Minami nun,” or "the Miyahara nun" may refer to Jōjūbō. Myōe's maternal uncle Jōkakubō, the senior monk at Jingoji, had ultimate authority over both Kōzanji and Zenmyōji. Thus if Jōjūbō was a sister, niece, or cousin of both Jōkaku and Myōe, this brief letter may open a new window into the identities of the Zenmyōji nuns.

Signed: Kōben

Karen L. Brock. In Miyeko Murase, The Written Image. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2002, cat. no. 29

[1] Girard 1990, pp. 12–32.
[2] Daihōkōbutsu Kengongyō, in eighty scrolls, translated by a Khotanese monk into Chinese between 695 and 699; Daizōkyō 1924–34, vol. 10, p. 279.
[3] Kōzanji shiryō 1968–, vol. 1, no. 56.

[4] Girard 1990, p. 418; illustrated in Nihon kōsō iboku 1970–71, no. 46.
[5] Tanabe, G. 1992, pp. 174–87 (dreams 66–139); Girard 1990, pp. 139–60, dreams 64–134. Photographs of the Kozanji fragments of the Dream Record appear in Kōzanji shiryō 1968– , vol. 7, pp. 7–101, with vol. 10 appearing on pp. 53–89. According to Okuda 1980, pp. 171–79, the sheets of paper in this booklet are out of order.

[6] Kōzanji shiryō 1968–, vol. 10, p. 139

Sylvan Barnet and William Burto , Cambridge, MA (until 2014; donated to MMA).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Paintings from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection," October 1, 2002–March 2, 2003.