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영어

Monkan(文観) is a high priest who served as the head of the Shingon sect(真言宗). He served as the head priest of To-ji Temple(東寺座主) and the chief abbot of To-ji Temple(東寺一長者). His origin has been a mystery, but it has been elucidated in recent years. Horen(宝蓮), a late disciple of Monkan, wrote a kechimyaku-fu(血脈譜), document of the handing down of law (dharma) from a mentor to a disciple, named “Yuka-Dento-shou(瑜伽伝灯鈔)”. 　 In recent years, research on Monkan has progressed. It has been said that Monkan had no discpiles and died in a miserable state in the mountains of Kawachi Province(河内国). This lore about him is different from the truth. He died in peace at the hospice in Kawachi-Kongo-ji Temple(河内金剛寺往生院). The list of Monkan’s disciples in “Yuka-Dento-shou” reveals that he had more than 200 disciples. His disciples belonged to the Shingon sect and the Saidaiji sect(西大 寺流), and Onomichi Jodo-ji Temple(尾道浄土寺), a Saidaiji sect temple, was a temple of his disciples.　Yushin(有深) was listed at the 108th position on the list.Prirst names are often written in reverse. If Horen mistakenly wrote Shinyu(深有) as Yushin(有深), Monkan had a famous disciple. It is bolieved that Shinyu made “IBUKI Saburo Tradition(伊吹三郎伝承譚)”, the prototype of “Ibuki-yma Shyuten-doji Story(伊吹山酒呑童子物語).　Shinyu was originally a priest of the Tendai sect, and trained at Daigo-ji Temple(醍醐寺) and became a priest of the Shingon sect.　 After 1352, he became the chief priest of the devastated Ibuki-nagao-ji Temple(伊吹長尾寺) and rebuilt the Temple.　“Ibuki-yma Shyuten-doji Story” is important as one of the variants of very famous “Ooei-yma Shyuten-doji Story(大江山酒呑童子物語). Monkan had a strong influence on Daigo-ji Temple(醍醐寺)、and served as the head priest of Daigo-ji Temple(醍醐寺座主) many times.　Finally in 1339, he became the head priest of Daigo-ji Temple. 　The time of Shinyu's training at Daigo-ji Temple and the time of Monkan's activity at the Temple overlapped. It's likely that Shinyu was Monkan's disciple.