Kenpō 賢寶 (1333–1398) — Late-Kamakura / Nanbokuchō-period Japanese Shingon scholar of Tō-ji 東寺, the youngest of the Three Treasures of Tō-ji 東寺三寶 (with Gōhō 杲寶 (杲寶) and Raihō 賴寶), the trio of medieval Shingon scholastics who systematized the Tō-ji doctrinal tradition. He was Gōhō’s principal disciple and lecture-recorder, and the chief curator and transmitter of Gōhō’s scholarly oeuvre.
Among the works in which he features as recorder or supplementer:
- Lǐqù shì mìyào chāo 理趣釋祕要鈔 (KR6j0195, T61n2241) — Gōhō’s twelve-fascicle scholastic commentary on Amoghavajra’s Lǐqù shì, recorded (記) by Kenpō from Gōhō’s lectures at Tō-ji’s West Cloister 東寺西院 during 1356 (Enbun 1).
- Bǎocè chāo 寶冊抄 — supplemented (補) by Kenpō.
He is also the author of independent doctrinal works on Shingon Esoteric practice, including extensive engagement with the Mahāvairocana-sūtra and Vajraśekhara-sūtra commentary traditions of his teacher Gōhō.
His role is that of the principal continuator of medieval Tō-ji scholasticism: where Gōhō provided the systematic foundation of the medieval Tō-ji doctrinal apparatus, Kenpō preserved Gōhō’s oral and written legacy and developed it forward into the Nanbokuchō period.
Source: DILA Buddhist Person Authority A001765; CBETA bibliographic byline data for B1956.