Kenryu Takashi Tsuji (1919-2004) was a

Japanese Canadian are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them living ...

and

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

Buddhist leader. Tsuji was born in Mission City, British Columbia, graduated from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, and studied

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

Ryukoku University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as a school for Buddhist priests of the Nishi Hongan-ji denomination in 1639, and became a secularized university in 1876. The university's professors and students founded the literary m ...

. He received his ordination in 1941. In 1942, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Tsuji was sent to a Canadian internment camp in Slocan, British Columbia. In 1958, he moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and became a US Citizen around 1965. Tsuji was a Shin Buddhist Minister and the first Canadian-born Buddhist Minister. In 1946 Reverend Tsuji, and others, held the first Obon service in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 1947 they founded what became the Toronto Buddhist Church. In the following years he founded a number of temples in Canada, such as the Hamilton Buddhist Church and the Montreal Buddhist Church, and the US, including

Ekoji Buddhist Temple is a temple of the Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha Japanese Buddhist sect in Fairfax Station, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. It is a member of the Buddhist Churches of America, the oldest Buddhist organization in the mainland United States. Eko ...

. From 1968 to 1981 Kenryu Tsuji served as the first North American born, first nisei

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the Buddhist Churches of America and also served as President of the Institute of Buddhist Studies. He also had a black belt in

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

. Reverend Tsuji was the first Buddhist to be president of the United States affiliate of the

World Conference on Religion and Peace Religions for Peace is an international coalition of representatives from the world's religions dedicated to promoting peace founded in 1970. The International Secretariat headquarters is in New York City, with regional conferences in Europe, As ...

from 1983 to 1989. In 1993 he was a guest at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Interfaith Breakfast with President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

Works

External links

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References

1919 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists American Buddhists American Buddhist spiritual teachers American male judoka American people of Japanese descent Canadian Buddhists Canadian male judoka Canadian people of Japanese descent Buddhist writers Japanese-Canadian internees Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist priests People from Mission, British Columbia People related to Jōdo Shinshū Pure Land Buddhists Shin Buddhists University of British Columbia alumni {{Buddhism-bio-stub