The Monk Enchin Archives: A History of Japan-China Cultural Exchange

The materials include primary sources that trace the life of the Japanese monk Enchin (814–891), who travelled to China to study Buddhism and seek spiritual enlightenment in the 9th century. The materials also include documentary heritage related to Japan-China cultural exchanges and the deepening significance of Buddhism and Buddhist faith in Japan at that time. The nominated materials are divided into four categories: official documents issued in China that illustrate the Tang legal system; official documents issued in Japan that illustrate the establishment of its own state system; documents that illustrate Buddhist exchanges between Japan and China; and documents that illustrate the practice of “patriarch worship” in Japanese Buddhism. Though the Tang dynasty established a vast empire that greatly impacted the East Asian world, very few of its records have survived to present day. Through the legacy of the monk Enchin, a wealth of historical documents from Japan and China have been preserved in their unaltered, original states, making the nominated materials a rare example not only in the history of religion, but also among archives globally.