Comprehensive studies of women and Buddhism in Japan based on the results of the amadera document survey

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This project has been to survey amamonzeki jiin (imperial convents) called bikuni gosho in the early modern periods in Kyoto and Nara, and to hold some meetings for the studies of amadera (convents) documents to discuss women and Buddhism in Japan. Thirteen surveys of amamonzeki have been conducted at Reiganji, Chuguji and Jijuin. The subjects of our surveys are the documents written in the early modern and modern periods, and textile art. The index of Koshoin documents and the survey results in the other three convents above are in the research report. At the seven study meetings we discussed the results of the surveys of amadera documents and various topics. The research report has the details.From the document surveys, we have learned that it is not enough to survey just one convent or to investigate only the extracts from important documents. The documents left in each convent show different characteristics of each bikuni gosho with diversity and localism. A special feature of the amamonzeki documents is that the nuns themselves wrote their thoughts and actions concretely. The arts and crafts owned by the convents are the cultural properties donated by secular women to prove their devotion and used by the nuns. The nuns not only pursued their faith but also played an active role in a society to manage their convents. Women around the convents participated with the nuns. We believe that our research is significant for the studies of religion and gender.We have recognized that the studies of women and Buddhism have common aspects in all periods and all fields. Researches of convents and nuns in the early modern and modern periods have not been done much. Our research results will become effective means to fill a blank in the studies of women and Buddhism in Japan.