Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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管長

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: chief officer

Senses:

  • The chief priest or abbot of a Buddhist or Shintō denomination. Each kanchō is responsible for the administration of a single branch 派 within a school 宗. The kanchō system was initially established in Japan in 1872, placing the major Buddhist sects under the supervision of a single leader. This system replaced the administrative temple (furegashira 觸頭), which was initialized by the government during the Edo (1603–1867) and early Meiji (1868–1912) periods. The chief priests were chosen by members of each Buddhist school from among the senior abbots of its head temples. The chief priest was the official representative of the branch, responsible for enforcing government regulations and reforming clerical behavior. Initially only seven Buddhist denominations were permitted to appoint a chief priest, these were: Tendai 天台宗, Shingon 眞言宗, Jōdo 淨土宗, Zen 禪宗, Shin 眞宗, Nichiren 日蓮宗, and Ji 時宗. This situation forced many different branches such as the Rinzai 臨濟宗, Sōtō 曹洞宗 and Ōbaku 黃檗宗 to unite under the leadership of one chief priest. Moreover, many smaller Buddhist denominations had to merge into the previously mentioned recognized schools. This complicated situation was corrected in 1884, when each school was allowed to elect its own chief priest. [Erez Joskovich; source(s): Nakamura, ZGD, JEBD, FGD, Yokoi]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 151

    Bulgyo sajeon 61a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 185b

    Iwanami Bukkyō jiten 148

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 160a/177

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 335

    Zen Dust (Sasaki) 224, 244

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 190d

    Fo Guang Dictionary 5879

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)811a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 346-3

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    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2014-01-24

    Updated: 2014-03-13