What kanjin means
Kanjin is the practice of soliciting donations widely from people of every rank to fund the building or repair of temple halls and pagodas, images, bells, bridges and the like. The word is said originally to have meant encouraging people toward Buddhist practice, and giving was seen as forming a bond between the donor and the Buddha. Monks who travelled the country undertaking this work were called kanjin hijiri or kanjin shōnin.
The best-known large example is the rebuilding of Todaiji after it burned at the end of the Heian period. An Okayama City lecture handout explains that Todaiji, destroyed in the Genpei War, was rebuilt under Shunjōbō Chōgen, who became daikanjin, the official in charge of the reconstruction, with support from the court and the Kamakura shogunate. Chōgen set up bases in various provinces to secure materials and funds, and kilns making tiles for Todaiji were operated in Bizen.
Reading the records
That a building or monument was raised through kanjin is often known from inscriptions, ridge tags or temple records, and some stone monuments bear the word or the name of the soliciting monk. The hōkyōintō in the Dōōji district of Kurashiki, Okayama, a stone monument inscribed with a date of 1314, is an Important Cultural Property typical of the Kamakura period.
When an article mentions kanjin, it should check the wording of inscriptions or ridge tags, or how local-government or temple sources describe it.
References
- 万富東大寺瓦窯跡と宋風石獅子｜岡山市埋蔵文化財センター
- https://www.city.okayama.jp/kurashi/cmsfiles/contents/0000005/5385/000323190.pdf
- 宝篋印塔（堂応寺）｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/3087
Last verified: 2026.09.27