Ōfuchi Ninji大渊忍尔

Style & Daoist names

Ōfuchi Ninji

Period

Modern

Dates

1912 — 2003

Role

Daoist ScholarsProfessor, Okayama University

Birthplace

Japan

Life

Ōfuchi Ninji was a Japanese scholar of Daoist textual studies, professor emeritus at Okayama University. He is known for his research on the Dunhuang Daoist manuscripts and early Daoist scriptures: his Catalogue of the Dunhuang Daoist Manuscripts (1978) and Album of the Dunhuang Daoist Manuscripts (1979) systematically catalogue and reproduce in facsimile the Dunhuang Daoist manuscripts, and remain foundational reference works for the field. His Studies on the History of Daoism (1964), Early Daoism (1991), and Daoism and Its Scriptures (1997) offer in-depth research on the Xiang'er Commentary on the Laozi, the catalogues of Lingbao scriptures, and the precepts of the Way of the Celestial Masters; his textual study of the ancient catalogue of Lingbao scriptures is widely cited. In his later years he edited Chinese Religious Rites, which includes material on Taiwanese Zhengyi ritual. He also directed the Catalogue of Daoist Texts Cited in Ancient Documents of the Six Dynasties, Tang and Song.

Contributions & Influence

• Compiled the Catalogue and Album of the Dunhuang Daoist Manuscripts, founding the field of Dunhuang Daoist textual studies
• Studied the Lingbao scriptures and early Daoist scriptures
• Documented the Taiwanese Zhengyi ritual tradition

Works

• Tonkō Dōkyō: Mokurokuhen (Dunhuang Daoist Scriptures: Catalogue Volume)
• Tonkō Dōkyō: Zurokuhen (Dunhuang Daoist Scriptures: Plates Volume)
• Dōkyōshi no Kenkyū (Studies on the History of Daoism)
• Shoki no Dōkyō (Early Daoism)
• Dōkyō to sono Kyōten (Daoism and Its Scriptures)
• Chūgokujin no Shūkyō Girei (The Religious Rituals of the Chinese)