The Nikkōshū[11], a diary by the priest Gidō, has the following entry
under the year 1378 (month and day uncertain):
To-day Donfu[12] came, and we fell to talking of Mokuan. It seems
that he was once known as Ze-itsu. But on becoming a pupil of the
priest Kenzan[13], he changed his name to Mokuan. Afterwards he
went to China and entered the Honkakuji[14], where he became the
disciple of Ryō-an[15] and was made librarian. Here he published at
his own expense (lit. “selling his shoes”) the _Second Collection
of Sayings by Korin_.
Subsequently he lived at the Shōtenji at Soochow, and was warden
there under Nanso[16], dying soon afterwards.
When he first came to China he spent some time at the Jōji
Monastery at Hangchow and from there visited the Rokutsūji on
the shores of the Western Lake. This monastery was inhabited by
the followers of Mokkei. The abbot greeted Mokuan with a smile,
saying to him: “Last night I dreamt that our founder Mokkei came
back again. You must be his reincarnation”; and he gave to Mokuan
Mokkei’s two seals, white and red. Henceforward he was known as
Mokkei the Second.
[11] See my _Nō Plays of Japan_ (Allen & Unwin, 1921), p. 19. The
passage here translated is taken not from the current, two-chapter
abridgement of Gidō’s Diary, but from the _Kokuchoshū_, a miscellany by
the 15th century priest Zuikei, who quoted many passages from the lost
portion of the Diary. See Mr. Saga Tōshū, _Shina Gaku_, I., 1.
[12] 1314-1384.
[13] Died 1323. Both he and Donfu were Japanese priests who visited
China.
[14] At Chia-hsing in Chehkiang.
[15] Entered this temple in 1334.
[16] Visited Japan; was at the Shōtenji from 1342-1345.