“Menstruation Sutra” belief in Japan

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONThe Bussetsu daizo shokyo ketsubon kyd ("The Buddha's correct sutra on the bowl of blood") is a rather short (totalling some 420-odd characters) sutra found on p. 2999 of the fourth volume of the eighty-seventh section of the first part of Dai nihon zoku zSkyS ("Great storehouse of Japanese sutras, continuedM ).A sutra that teaches the way of salvation for women who have fallen into Hell because of the pollution of blood, this document appears to have had widespread circulation in China from the time of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).There is, however, a variety of works referred to as "Ketsubon kyoM (lit."Blood bowl sutra1 '), including those from Buddhism, Taoism or certain individual Shinto shrines, and the content of each of these differs somewhat from all the rest.1In this article I will limit my investigations to the sutra as it was circulated in Japan, but there are a variety of Japanese versions as well, all of which differ slightly.First, then, I will clarify the nature of these differences, and then discuss "Ketsubon kyo" belief in Japan after attempting to date its transmission to this country.Translated bv W. Michael Kelsey from "Nihon ni okeru Ketsubonkyo shink5 ni tsuite"日本における血盆経信仰についてin Nihon B u kka 日 本 仏 歌 8,1981:37-^9.I.There is also a good number of texts in use in the Taoist religion.See Soymi4 1965 for details.

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