View of literature - Monkan

Japanese: 文観 - もんかん

Year of death: Enbun 2/Shohei 12.10.9 (1357.11.21)
Year of birth: Koan 1 (1278)
A Shingon Buddhist monk and monk from the late Kamakura period and the Northern and Southern Courts period. He is said to have been the founder of the Tachikawa school, a heretical sect within the Shingon sect. His name was also Koshin and Shuon. He was born in Harima Province (Hyogo Prefecture). He studied Tendai Buddhism at Ichijoji Temple on Mount Hokke in Harima Province, but later studied at Jorakuji Temple in Hojo, Harima Province, a branch temple of Saidaiji, and followed the path of a Saidaiji school monk. In June 1302 (Kengen 1), he promoted the belief in Manjusri as a monk, drawing an image of Manjusri Bodhisattva for the thirteenth anniversary of the death of Saidaiji Eison, and his Buddhist name, Monkanbo Shuon, is said to have been derived from Manjusri and Kannon. On April 21, 1316, while he was serving as an elder at Kasayama Chikurin-ji Temple in Yamato (Nara Prefecture), a branch temple of Saidai-ji Temple, he received the initiation ceremony in Shingon Esoteric Buddhism from Dojun of Hoon-in Temple of Daigo-ji Temple, and thus became associated with the Hoon-in school of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism. Around this time, he became close to Emperor Go-Daigo and became his guardian monk, and in 1324, he erected a statue of Manjusri Bodhisattva at Yamato Hannya-ji Temple, a branch temple of Saidai-ji Temple, to pray for Emperor Go-Daigo's overthrow of the Kamakura Shogunate. From 1326 to 1329, he offered prayers for the shogunate's Hojo Takatoki to be subdued, taking advantage of the fact that Emperor Go-Daigo's Empress was pregnant, but this was discovered in May 1331, and he was captured by the shogunate and exiled to Iwo Jima (the Genko War). After the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate, he returned to Kyoto in May of the second year of the Shokei era (1334). In 1334, he became the chief monk of To-ji Temple and head priest of Daigo-ji Temple, and the following year he became the first choja of To-ji Temple and the head law officer (concurrently the inspector of Mount Koya and the head priest of Todai-ji Temple), and thus rose to the pinnacle of the world of exoteric and esoteric Buddhism under the Kenmu government of Emperor Go-Daigo. At this time, Monkan was at the height of his prowess, storing treasures in his storehouse, gathering weapons at his side, and entering the Imperial Court with hundreds of soldiers following behind him in a palanquin. However, he worshipped Dakini-ten, and was criticized by Shingon sects such as the Koyasan monks as the master of the heretical sect Tachikawa-ryu (which preached that the sexual union of men and women is the basis of esoteric Buddhism). With the division of the Northern and Southern Courts, he went down to Yoshino with Emperor Go-Daigo of the Southern Court and campaigned for the rise of the Southern Court, and passed away at Kongo-ji Temple in Kawachi (Osaka Prefecture). <References> Seishin Moriyama, "A Study of the Tachikawa Cult and its Social Background"

(Ryoichi Hosokawa)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：延文2/正平12.10.9(1357.11.21)
生年：弘安1(1278)
鎌倉末・南北朝時代の真言宗の僧,律僧。真言宗内の邪教とされる立川流の大成者といわれる。名は弘真,殊音ともいう。播磨国(兵庫県)生まれ。播磨国法華山一乗寺で天台を学んだが,西大寺末寺の播磨国北条常楽寺に学び,西大寺流律僧としての道を歩んだ。乾元1(1302)年6月,西大寺叡尊の十三回忌に文殊菩薩の図像を図絵するなど,律僧として文殊信仰を推進し,法名を文観房殊音と号したのも,文殊と観音から名付けたという。西大寺末寺の大和(奈良県)笠山竹林寺の長老となっていた正和5(1316)年4月21日,醍醐寺報恩院道順から真言密教の灌頂を受け,真言密教報恩院流の法脈にも連なった。このころ,後醍醐天皇に接近してその護持僧となり,正中1(1324)年,後醍醐天皇による鎌倉幕府倒幕の成就を祈念した文殊菩薩像を西大寺末寺の大和般若寺に造立した。嘉暦1(1326)年から元徳1(1329)年にかけて,後醍醐の中宮懐妊にことよせて幕府の北条高時調伏の祈祷を行い,元弘1(1331)年5月に発覚して幕府に捕らわれ,硫黄島に流された(元弘の乱)。鎌倉幕府滅亡後の正慶2/元弘3年5月に京都に帰った。建武1(1334)年に東寺大勧進・醍醐寺座主になり,翌年には東寺一長者・正法務(高野山検校・東大寺別当を兼職)になるなど,後醍醐の建武政権のもとで顕密仏教界の頂点に立った。このころの文観は,財宝を倉に積み武具を傍らに集め,数百騎の兵を輿の前後に従えて宮中に参内するなど,得意の絶頂にあった。しかし,荼吉尼天を祭った彼は,邪教立川流(男女の性的結合を密教の根本として説いた)の大成者とされて高野山衆徒などの真言教団からも非難された。南北朝の分裂とともに南朝の後醍醐と共に吉野に下って南朝興隆のための運動を行い,河内(大阪府)金剛寺で入滅している。<参考文献>守山聖真『立川邪教とその社会的背景の研究』

(細川涼一)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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