Kongobutsushi Eison Kanjingakushoki (金剛仏子叡尊感身学正記)
Kongobutsushi Eison Kanjingakushoki is an autobiography of Eison, a Buddhist monk who founded the Shingon Ritsu sect in the Kamakura period. It can be called Kanjingakushoki for short.
Eison who thought that he could not live longer when he turned 85 started writing an autobiography on November 14, 1285 (old calendar) to look back at his religious belief and activities and ask disciples to look after his affairs when he died. It was completed on February 28 of the following year (old calendar) and its proofreading was finished before March.
In the autobiography, he covered from his birth, his entering into priesthood in Daigo-ji Temple, ascetic practices in the Shingon Esoteric Buddhism to corruption of the entire world of Buddhism in Japan at the time, execution of the JIsei Jukai (self-administered precepts) at Todai-ji Temple with Kakujo and others, the encounter with Ninsho and others who became his disciples later, the movement for restoring the Saidai-ji Temple (Nara City), restoring the religious precepts, the campaign for helping Hinin (a group comprising the lowest rank in the pre-modern Japan), patients of the Hansen's disease, and so forth.
His autobiography has been highly valued as a historical material on Buddhism in the Kamakura period because it was based on materials which he possessed, written clearly and in detail, and there was not much discrepancy between his autobiography and other materials on history or with the history of Buddhism written in those days.
In 1990, 700 years after Eison's death, "Kosho Bosatsu Gokyokai Chomonshu (Collection of Preachingsby Kosho Bosatsu [name given to Eison posthumously by Emperor Gofushimi]) and Kongobutsushi Eison Kanjingakushoki" edited by Sei HASEGAWA was published by the Saidai-ji Temple. Only the volume 1 of the Ryoichi HOSOKOWA version in two volumes was published by Heibonsha, Toyo bunko in 1999.