The Genkō Shakusho (元亨釈書) is the first Japanese Buddhist history. It was written during the Kamakura period in Classical Chinese by the famous Rinzai monk Kokan Shiren (1278–1346) and in total consists of 30 scrolls.[1]
Kokan Shiren wrote the Genkō Shakusho in 1322; the literal translation of the title is the "Genkō Era Buddhist History." In the introduction to the work, Kokan wrote that he was shamed into writing it after the Chinese monk Yishan Yining expressed his surprise that no such history existed in Japan.[2] The book was first published between 1346–1377.[3] It covers a span of seven hundred years in Japanese Buddhist history and biographies from its introduction into Japan until the late Kamakura period. It was accepted into the Buddhist Tripitaka during the Nanboku-chō period.
The Genkō Shakusho has three divisions:
Book: ja:『国訳一切経』 和漢撰述 (史伝部 第19, 20) . Kokuyaku Issaikyo [Japanese Translation of Entire Buddhist Tripitaka] Works Written in China and Japan (History Section No. 19 and 20) . 大東出版社 . 1963 . ja.
Book: ja:『大乗仏典 : 中国・日本篇』第25巻 . Mahayana Buddhist Tripitaka : Chinese and Japanese Works Volume No. 25 . ja . 中央公論社 . 1989.
Book: Ury, Marian Bloom . Genkō shakusho, Japan's first comprehensive history of Buddhism : a partial translation, with introduction and notes . Stanford University . 1971.