Nanjo Bunyu

Who was Nanjo Bunyu?

Nanjō Bun'yū was one of the most important modern Japanese scholars of Buddhism. Nanjo was born to the abbot of Seiunji Temple, part of the Shinshu Ōtani sect of the Higashi Honganji branch of Jodo Shinshu.

Nanjō studied Classical Chinese texts and Buddhist doctrine in his youth before being sent to Europe in 1876 to study Sanskrit and Indian philosophy from European scholars, including Max Müller, under whom Bunyu studied in England. While there he met the Chinese Buddhist Yang Wenhui, whom he helped to acquire Japanese versions of Buddhist texts that had been lost in China to be reprinted at Yang's printing house in Nanjing. He returned to Japan in 1884 and served as a professor or head of a number of Buddhist seminaries and universities until his death.