Kangaku-e

• Japanese: 勧学会 (kangaku-e)

The Kangaku-e, or Assembly for Chinese Learning, was a group of some twenty Confucian literati from Kyoto, and some twenty scholar-monks from Mt. Hiei, who met regularly in the 10th-11th centuries, for the study of Buddhist and other Chinese materials.

Minamoto no Tamenori (d. 1008) was a founding member of the group; the monk Chôken was another prominent member.

In addition to more regular meetings, the group held bi-annual lecture assemblies, called kôe, in which they devoted themselves to the study of the Lotus Sutra in the morning, nenbutsu in the evening, and the composition of Chinese poems (kanshi) at night.

References

• Ethan Bushelle, "Afterlife of Murasaki Shikibu: Buddhist Ritual and Canonization of the Tale of Genji," University of California, Santa Barbara, 3 Dec 2015.