Ordination Documents of Dengyo Daishi (three documents)

Records of Saicho's Ordination

The Ordination Documents of Dengyo Daishi (three documents) (伝教大師度縁案並僧綱牒（三通）) is three documents concerning the ordination of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho), from the Nara and Heian periods, owned by Raigoin in Ohara, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1955 were designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records one handscroll dated 780 to 783, owned by Raigoin.

According to the Tokyo National Museum, three documents on the ordination and precepts of Saicho (766 to 822), founder of Mount Hiei and the Japanese Tendai school, are mounted as one scroll.

The Three Documents

According to the museum, the first, a copy of a notice from the governor of Omi dated 10 November 780, records the approval of the fifteen-year-old Saicho's ordination in place of the Omi provincial temple monk Saijaku, giving his lay name Mitsu no Obito Hirono and noting that the original bore 24 provincial seals.

The second, a copy of his ordination certificate dated 20 January 783, was issued to the eighteen-year-old Saicho by the Omi provincial priest; such certificates were official government permits to become a monk or nun, and this one records his moles and other physical features.

What to Look For

The museum notes that the third, a notice of the Office of Monastic Affairs dated 6 April 785, authorises Saicho to receive the precepts that year; signed by the senior monk Kenkyo and others, it is the original document, stamped with 20 red seals of the office across the text.

Together they trace, in official documents, Saicho's path to becoming a monk.

Visiting the Ordination Documents of Dengyo Daishi (three documents)

The documents are owned by Raigoin and are not always on display; watch for exhibition announcements.