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Institute Directors and Chairmen

Biographical Sketches of the Institute’s Directors and Chairmen

Successive head
Yamada Mumon
Period in Office	January 1964 – January 1988
	Yamada Mumon was born in Aichi Prefecture on July 16, 1900. After graduating from Waseda Middle School and Rinzaishū College he trained as a Zen monk at Tenryū-ji Monastery. He served as abbot of Reiun-in and Shōfuku-ji, president of Hanazono University, director of the Institute for Zen Studies, and chief abbot of Myōshin-ji. He passed away on December 24, 1988. Yamada Roshi was the author of numerous books, including Lectures on the Blue Cliff Records (10 vols., in Japanese); The Record of Linji (in Japanese); and The Ten Oxherding Pictures (in Japanese).
Hirata Seikō
Period in Office	January 1988 – March 1994
	Hirata Seikō was born in Kyoto on August 26, 1924. After graduating from the Department of Philosophy at Kyoto University he trained in Zen at Tenryū-ji Monastery, then spent two years in Germany studying philosophy. Following his return he was appointed Zen master at Tenryū-ji Monastery. He simultaneously served as Director and Chairman of the Board at the Institute for Zen Studies. In 1991 he was named Chief Abbot of Tenryū-ji, a position he held until his death on January 9, 2008. His many books include The Zen Point of View (in Japanese), The Zen that Gives Life (in Japanese); and A Zen Lexicon (in Japanese).
Yamada Sōbin
Period in Office	April 1994 – March 1999
	Yamada Sōbin was born in Gifu Prefecture in the year 1920 and trained in Zen at Myōshin-ji Monastery. After graduating from the Department of Literature at Hanazono University and Ryūkoku University he was appointed abbot of Shinju-an, a subtemple of Daitoku-ji established by the famous Zen monk Ikkyū. After serving as secretary general of Daitoku-ji he became director of the Institute for Zen Studies. He passed away on March 25, 2008. His publications include Zen at Daitoku-ji (in English; with Jon Covell), Daitoku-ji and Zen, and The History of Daitoku-ji through Written Materials (in Japanese).
Hosokawa Kei’itsu
Period in Office	April 1999 – May 2000
	Biography: See “Chairmen of the Board”
Hirano Sōjō
Period in Office	May 2000 – July 2002
	Hirano Sōjō was born in 1928 in the city of Sakae, Osaka Prefecture. He received ordination under Yamada Sōbin of Shinju-an, Daitoku-ji, and studied at Hanazono University. After graduating from Hanazono with a degree in Buddhist Studies he trained at Shōfuku-ji and Zuigan-ji Monasteries, receiving Dharma transmission from Katō Ryūhō Roshi. He taught at Hanazono University until 1988, when he was appointed Zen master at Zuigan-ji Monastery. He died on July 6, 2002. Among his numerous books on Zen are Ikkyū Sōjun, Annotated Recorded Sayings of Daitō, and Essential Teachings on Sudden Enlightenment (all in Japanese).
Hosokawa Kei’itsu
Period in Office	July 2002 – March 2005
	See “Chairmen of the Board”
Nishimura Eshin
Period in Office	April 2005 – Jun 2016
	Born in 1933 in Shiga Prefecture, Nishimura Eshin graduated with a degree in Zen Philosophy from Hanazono University and trained in Zen at Nanzen-ji Monastery. After assuming the abbacy of Kōfuku-ji in Shiga Preferecture in 1959 he spent a year abroad studying at the Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. In 1960 he joined the staff of the Institute for Zen Studies, and in 1970 completed coursework for the Ph.D. program at Kyoto University. After serving as professor on the faculty of the Department of Literature at Hanazono University he was appointed the university’s president. His numerous publications include The Theory and Practice of Investigating the Self, What Does It Mean to Be a Buddhist?, and Buddhist Teachings for Raising Children (all in Japanese).
Dōmae Jimyo
Period in Office	Jun 2016 – Present
	Dōmae Jimyō was born in May, 1942, in Fukui Prefecture. In 1972 he withdrew from the doctoral program in philosophy at Kyoto University to receive ordination as a Zen monk at Jūkō-in in Daitoku-ji. He trained in Zen under Minato Sodō Roshi at Kenchō-ji Monastery in Kamakura and Kennin-ji Monastery in Kyoto from 1974 until 1991, when he became priest of Fukujō-ji in Kyoto. Commuting from Fukujō-ji, he continued his training under Shinohara Daiyū Roshi at Eigen-ji Monastery and received Dharma transmission in 2000. In April, 2013 he was appointed Zen master and chief abbot of Eigen-ji. His formal teaching name is Kaian Kutsu. Among his publications are the books Kunchū ‘Kaian kokugo’ and Kōteiban ‘Shūmon kattōshū’ (both in Japanese; published by the Institute for Zen Studies).