Ōtani Kōzui
Japanese noble (1876–1948)
Count Ōtani Kōzui (大谷 光瑞) (27 December 1876 – 5 October 1948) was a Japanese Buddhist leader and explorer who was the 22nd Abbot of Nishi Hongan-ji and the head of the Honganji-ha sect of Buddhism. He is known for expeditions to Buddhist archaeological sites in Central Asia, such as Subashi Temple near Kucha. His Dharma name was Kyōnyo (鏡如).
Career
Between 1902 and 1910, he financed three expeditions to Central Asia, although his participation was stopped for his succession. Ōtani was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and hosted several fellow explorers, including Sven Hedin and Albert von Le Coq. His collection, often called "Ōtani collection" is still considered crucial in Central Asian studies, although it is today scattered across Tokyo, Kyoto, China and Korea. In addition to his spiritual responsibilities and his Central Asian activities, Ōtani wrote about China, Manchuria and Chinese porcelain. During the Great Game, British and Russian intelligence both suspected that his archaeological expeditions were little more than covers for espionage. Japan says they were solely investigations of the route along which Buddhism came to Japan and had no political connections.
After his father Ōtani Kōson's death, he succeeded as Abbot of Nishi Hongan-ji in 1903.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q386254. VIAF identifies the subject as 113770129. The Library of Congress control number is n85315990. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1948, 1902 and 1910.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ōtani Kōzui” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.