was a Japanese

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

Buddhist monk of the Azuchi-Momoyama and early

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

periods. He achieved the rank of ''Daisōjō'', the highest rank of the priesthood. His Buddhist name was first , which he changed to Tenkai in 1590. Also known as , he died on 13 November 1643, and was granted the posthumous title of in 1648. Tenkai was at

Kita-in is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It is noted for its main hall, which was part of the original Edo Castle, and the statues of 540 Rakan, disciples of the Buddha. It is also known informally as ...

(then written 北院) in Kawagoe in 1588, and became abbot in 1599. He was on the advisor of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, and served as a liaison between the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

and the

Imperial Court in Kyoto The Imperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji period (1868–1912), after which the court was moved from Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyō) to Tokyo (formerly Edo) and integrated into the Meiji gov ...

. One of his projects was the rebuilding of

Enryaku-ji is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period (794–1185) by Saichō was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism bas ...

, which had been devastated by

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

. He also revitalized Kita-in, and changed the characters of its name to 喜多院. Nearing death in 1616, Ieyasu entrusted Tenkai with his last will regarding matters of his funeral and his posthumous name. Tenkai selected ''

gongen A , literally "incarnation", was believed to be the manifestation of a buddha in the form of an indigenous kami, an entity who had come to guide the people to salvation, during the era of shinbutsu-shūgō in premodern Japan.Encyclopedia of Shint ...

'' rather than ''myōjin,'' and after death Ieyasu became known as Tōshō Daigongen. Tenkai continued to serve as a consultant to the next two

Tokugawa shōguns Tokugawa may refer to: *Tokugawa era, an alternative term for the Edo period, 1603 to 1868 *Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal regime of Japan during the Edo period **Tokugawa clan, a powerful family of Japan ***Tokugawa Ieyasu (154 ...

. In 1624, retired shōgun

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

and ruling shōgun

Tokugawa Iemitsu Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光, August 12, 1604 – June 8, 1651) was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who a ...

asked him to establish

Kan'ei-ji (also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1625 during the Kan'ei era by Tenkai, in an attempt to emulate the powerful religious center Enryaku-ji, in Kyoto. The main object of worship is .Nihon Re ...

, a Buddhist temple to the northeast of

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established the ...

Ueno is a district in Tokyo's Taitō Ward, best known as the home of Ueno Park. Ueno is also home to some of Tokyo's finest cultural sites, including the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, and the National Museum of Na ...

. There are several theories concerning his early life. Some fiction writers postulate that he was in actuality

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

. It is not certain whether Mitsuhide died at the

Battle of Yamazaki The was fought in 1582 in Shimamoto, Osaka, Yamazaki, Japan, located in current-day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Mt. Tennō (天王山の戦い ''Tennō-zan no tatakai''). In the Honnō-ji Incident, ...

or not, and some suppose that he survived and began a new life as the priest Tenkai.

In popular media

*Tenkai appears as the main villain in the first ''

Sakura Wars is a Japanese steampunk media franchise created by Oji Hiroi and owned by Sega. It is focused around a series of cross-genre video games. The first game in the series was released in 1996, with five sequels and numerous spin-off titles being ...

'' game. *In the game ''

Sengoku Basara 3 ''Sengoku BASARA Samurai Heroes'', known in Japan as ''Sengoku BASARA 3'', is a 2010 hack and slash, action video game developed and published by Capcom. It is the third major installment in the ''Sengoku BASARA'' game series and the second game ...

'' and the anime Sengoku Basara: The Last Party the character Tenkai is portrayed as a cryptic monk who speaks in riddles and wields twin scythes. As with the rumor above, Tenkai is actually a re-skinned model of Akechi Mitsuhide, from the game and anime's predecessor. As of the ''UTAGE'' upgrade of the third game, the series established both Tenkai and Mitsuhide as a same person. *In the '' Onimusha series'', Samanosuke Akechi took on the identity of Tenkai in '' Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams''. *In the video game ''

Shin Megami Tensei IV is a Japanese post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by Atlus for the Nintendo 3DS. It is part of the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series, the central series of the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise, though no direct story connection exists to ...

'' Tenkai appears as a National Defense Divinity once the party reaches a later portion of Tokyo. *In the anime and light novels ''

Mirage of Blaze is a 49-volume Japanese light novel series written by Mizuna Kuwabara, published under Shueisha's ''Cobalt'' label. It was partially adapted into a 13-episode anime television series directed by Susumu Kudo in 2002 and an OVA directed by Fu ...

,'' Tenkai's name has been mentioned in a crucial part of the story arc, being that an old incantation of his that he had invoked centuries ago would be the key for Lord Kagetora Uesugi and his team to stop their enemies in controlling the Feudal Underworld and the living world. *He appears in the mobile game

Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...

as an antagonist of the event GUDAGUDA Imperial Capital Grail. He is truly

and he quickly reveals his identity. *He appears in the game "Nioh" and "Nioh 2", which represents him like an old and powerful onmyo mage that helps you during the storyline to fight yokai demons and bans them with magic from our dimension.

Gallery

File:Tenkai - Rule of November Memorial Service for Zhi-yi - Google Art Project.jpg, Rule of Shimotsukie written by Tenkai File:KaneijiPagoda1270.jpg, Tenkai established Kan'ei-ji in 1624 File:Rinnoji jigendo haka.jpg, Tenkai's grave File:Jigendo Otsu06n4592.jpg, Jigendo in Sakamoto, Otsu

References

KITAIN
site
Kaneiji Temple
Japanese)
Kaneiji Temple
English)

(IPA, an agency of the Government of Japan)

{{People of the Sengoku period , state=autocollapse Japanese Buddhist clergy Japanese centenarians 1536 births 1643 deaths Edo period Buddhist clergy Men centenarians