National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

The Japanese Kegon scholar monk Gyonen (1240-1321) authored this commentary on the Chinese Huayan (J., Kegon) patriarch Zhiyan’s (J., Chigon; 602-68) Inquiry of the Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra (Ch., Huayan kongmu zhang; J., Kegon mokusho). The scroll here was handwritten by Gyonen himself and, according to its postscript, transcribed on the seventh month of Koan 10 (1287). He also copied Nanzan kyogisho (Doctrines of the Southern Mountain), Volume 29, onto the reverse side of this text in Shoo 4 (1291). Gyonen was known for his erudition and wrote important Buddhist works such as Hasshu koyo (The Essentials of the Eight Schools).