Kikuin Sōi

was a

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

Buddhist monk of the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

. Kikuin was ordained as a

Bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the pratimok� ...

(full monk) at the

Enkaku-ji , or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhism, Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountain System, Five Mountains. It is situated in the List of cities in Japan, city of Kamak ...

temple () in Shuri. Later, he travelled to Japan to study Zen for over ten years. After he returned to Ryukyu, he was appointed

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of Tennō-ji temple (). Kikuin was fluent in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

; he was friends of

Shimazu Yoshihisa was a powerful ''daimyō'' and the 16th Chief of Shimazu clan of Satsuma Province, the eldest son of Shimazu Takahisa. He was renowned as a great general, who managed to subjugate Kyushu through the deft maneuvering of his three brothers. Eventu ...

Shimazu Yoshihiro was the second son of Shimazu Takahisa and the younger brother of Shimazu Yoshihisa. Traditionally believed to be the 17th head of the Shimazu clan, he was a skilled general during the Sengoku period who greatly contributed to the unificatio ...

and Shimazu Iehisa. He led missions to

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

multiple times. In the spring of 1609, Satsuma invaded Ryukyu and captured the strategically important

Nakijin Castle is a Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' located in Nakijin, Okinawa. It is currently in ruins. In the late 14th century, the island of Okinawa consisted of three principalities: Nanzan to the south, Chūzan in the central area, and Hokuzan in the north. Nakijin ...

. Kikuin went there to request a peace negotiation together with a Japanese tea master named Kian, but they were arrested by Satsuma troops. After the war, he was taken to Kagoshima Castle together with King

Shō Nei was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1589 to 1620. He reigned during the 1609 invasion of Ryukyu and was the first king of Ryukyu to be a vassal to the Shimazu clan of Satsuma, a Japanese feudal domain. Shō Nei was the great-grandson of Sh� ...

and a number of high officials by Satsuma troops. After ''

sessei was the highest government post of the Ryūkyū Kingdom below the king; the ''sessei'' served the function of royal or national advisor. In the Ryukyuan languages, Ryukyuan language at the time, the pronunciation was closer to ''shisshii'', and h ...

'' Gushichan Chōsei died at

Sunpu Castle is a Japanese castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle".Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)Shizuoka It was also referred to as or . Hist ...

, he served as acting ''sessei''. 1620 deaths 16th-century Ryukyuan people 17th-century Ryukyuan people Rinzai Buddhists Zen Buddhist abbots 17th-century abbots Sessei Buddhism in the Ryukyu Islands {{Asia-hist-stub