Online dictionary of history and traditions in Japan: Myoan Yosai

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French version

Myoan Yosai

明庵栄西栄西
alternative words: Myoan Eisai, Yosai Myoan, Eisai Myoan, Yosai, Eisai
keywords: buddhism , china , famous person , priest
related topics: Rinzai sect , Tendai sect , Zen , Kamakura shogunate
explanation: Born in 1141 in a samurai family of Okayama prefecture. He learned first Esoteric Buddhism from Tendai sect of Mt Hiei. He went 2 times to China (1168 and 1186) to learn Zen, then opened the first Japanese Zen temple, Seifukuji, in Fukuoka. When he went to Kyoto to propagate Zen, he was persecuted by Tendai sect and had to flee to Kamakura. There he built Jufukuji temple under a patronage of Kamakura shogunate, then Kenninji temple at Kyoto. He died in 1215.