Book Review: Trubnikova, Nadezhda N. (2024). “Shasekishū” in the History of Japanese Philosophy

In 2024, a two-volume edition of N.N. Trubnikova’s translation and study of Shasekishū was republished. Shasekishū is a 13th-century Buddhist collection of setsuwa didactic tales. The compiler of the anthology, monk Mujū Ichien (1226–1312), presents diverse narratives borrowed from numerous sources, providing them with religious-philosophical commentary, vivid and often very detailed. The second volume includes the researcher’s essays on Mujū Ichien himself, the historical and cultural context of the compilation’s creation, the setsuwa genre as a whole, and various aspects that were addressed in the monk’s discourses, alongside other supplementary materials.