Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the connection between the diaries authored by monks Ennin (794–864) and Enchin (814–891) during their time in China and the compilation of “National History," arguing that these personal records were likely written with a view of their inclusion into Japan’s official histories.

Paper long abstract:

Eager as they were to polish their doctrinal training and acquire new Buddhist scriptures, Japanese monks had routinely been visiting the Continent since the late 6th century at least. But it is not until the mid-9th century that they began to bring home a new token of their travels: extensive diaries replete with details about the places they visited, the teachers they learned from, and the many documents they exchanged with local authorities.

Despite decades of textual scholarship and historians’ heavy reliance on these diaries as source of information, a simple yet fundamental question has yet to be raised and answered: Why did these monks bother to author a diary to begin with, while predecessors as illustrious as Saichō (767–822) and Kūkai (774–835) apparently had not deemed necessary to do so?

Focusing on the cases of Ennin (794–864) and Enchin’s (814–891) diaries––the two best documented specimens of this new genre––I will offer the hypothesis that, despite their deceivingly “personal” nature, these records were likely authored with a view of their inclusion into “National History,” as the official chronicles of Japan were then known. Indeed, not only did these diaries indirectly make their way, through biographies compiled on their basis, into the official narrative, but as I will attempt to demonstrate, Ennin and Enchin wrote with a certain form of historical awareness indicating that this outcome was also likely their goal.