TAKEO, Zenchiku (or Tsugiharu or Setsumon).

Danrin junroki [Guidebook to 18 True Pure Land School Buddhist Educational Temples in the Kanto Region].

Folding color-printed woodblock map. 49 folding leaves. Oblong 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, block-printed title label on upper cover (label partly defective), new stitching. Edo: Izumiya Shinpachi, [1821].

First edition and rare; WorldCat locates only one copy, in Japan. Danrin is a temple that served as a college and institute to instruct Buddhist priests. In the early 17th century, the Tokugawa shogunate recognized 18 temples of the Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land School) as danrin:

–Musashi Province (today it incorporates Tokyo metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture & part of Kanagawa Prefecture): Zojo-ji (Minato, Tokyo); Denzuin (Bunkyo, Tokyo); Reigan-ji (Koto, Tokyo); Reizan-ji (Sumida, Tokyo); Banzuiin (Koganei, Tokyo); Renkei-ji (Kawagoe, Saitama); Shogan-ji (Konosu, Saitama); Daizen-ji (Hachioji, Tokyo); and Jokoku-ji (Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama).

–Sagami Province: Komyo-ji (Kamakura, Kanagawa).

–Shimosa Province: Gugyo-ji (Yuki, Ibaraki); Tozen-ji (Matsudo, Chiba); Daigan-ji (Chiba, Chiba); and Gugyo-ji (Joso, Ibaraki).

–Kozuke Province: Daikoin (Ota, Gunma) and Zendo-ji (Tatebayashi, Gunma).

–Hitachi Province: Jofuku-ji (Naka, Ibaraki) and Dainen-ji (Inashiki, Ibaraki).

Takeo (1782-1839), was a high-ranking Buddhist priest at the main Zojo-ji temple, where he was the historian of Jodo Shinshu and of the various temples and maintained the growing archives of the sect. Active as an author throughout his life, he retired as a priest in 1821 and became a teacher and tutor for the bakufu and a member of the Edo literati.

This book serves as a guide to the 18 danrin temples. It begins with a folding color-printed woodblock map of the region containing these temples. For each temple, Takeo provides a valuable history with details of the important buildings and treasures, number of students and teachers, etc. The book also serves as a rather personal travel guide for pilgrims who want to visit all the temples, mentioning distances between establishments, sites to see along the way, notes on where to cross rivers, etc. At the end, Takeo provides a “cheat sheet” for simplified chanting and recommends that pilgrims carry with them pickled plums, salt, towels, extra tabi socks, fans, tissue paper, and yatate (small personal writing sets).

A very good copy, preserved in a chitsu. Some worming in the gutter and, towards the end, the outer corner, occasionally touching the text.