Paper short abstract:

The research is focused on describing history in 13 c. in terms associated with Buddhism. The study aims to analyze a perception of Japan as a country ruled by its kami on the distant borders of the Buddhist world. The research is based on the "Gukansho" and poems by the Tendai monk Jien (1155-1255)

Paper long abstract:

One of the most representative histories of Japan is "Gukansho" by the Tendai monk Jien (1155-1255). It was intended as "yotsugi" (rekishi monogatari) however the author went beyond the narrative method of this genre. Jien searched for the roots of historical events in the past and in a cause-effect relationship.

Ishida Ichiro, Hideo Akamatsu, Charles H. Hambrick, M. Blum and others pointed that Jien depicted historical events of Japan in the context of a Buddhist vision of the world and added non-Indian ideas to the Indian Buddhist cosmology. However even with its famous "theoretical" scroll "Gukansho" lacks clearly articulated Buddhist theories. They can be restored by textual analysis of the "Gukansho" and Jien's poems expressing complex philosophical concepts. This makes it possible to demonstrate the way in which Buddhist ideas shaped his historical explanation.

The historical model of Jien is changing forms of imperial rule willed by Amataresu and subjected to the main Principle - rhythm of the kalpa. Our analysis of Jien's writings provides evidences that Indian Buddhist cosmology explains the place of Japan in the world while features of Japanese Buddhism define local history.

We focus on 2 peculiarities that modeled Jien's historical views.

1. The time-spatial concept of the sangoku-mappō (re-interpreted Indian

Buddhist cosmology enriched by notion about three periods of the Law) defined a place of Japan on the outskirt of the world and a time of Japanese history.

2. The concept of honji-suijaku ('original nature, trace manifestation')

determined a hierarchy of kami. This hierarchy clarifies multiple meanings of the word 'Principles' (dōri) - factors that conditioned historical process.

Both concepts imply Jien's assertion of uniqueness of the country. The term shinkoku ('the divine land') are widely used in Jien's poems, and a textual analysis of his writings sheds light on the development of this notion inside Buddhist intellectual tradition.