Ōtōkan
lineage of the Rinzai school of Zen (a form of Japanese Buddhism)
The Ōtōkan lineage (応灯関、應燈關) is a lineage of the Rinzai school of Zen (a form of Japanese Buddhism). It was founded by Nanpo Shōmyō (1235–1308), who received dharma-transmission in China in 1265 from Xutang Zhiyu.
It is centered at the temple complexes of Myōshin-ji (founded by Kanzan Egen (1277–1360), the third patriarch) and Daitoku-ji (founded by Daito Kokushi (Shuho Myocho) (1283–1338), the second patriarch) in Kyoto, and sometimes referred to as the "Myōshin-ji lineage" accordingly. It now consists of two main lines, the Inzan line and the Takujū line, which date to circa 1800.
History
The name Ōtōkan, traditionally written 應燈關, in modern Japanese written 応灯関, is a compound of ō-tō-kan, and is derived from the names of the first three patriarchs:
the "ō" of Daiō Kokushi 大應國師 (Nanpo Jōmyō (南浦紹明?) (1235–1308)
the "tō" of Daitō Kokushi 大燈國師 (Shuho Myocho) (1283–1338)
and the "kan" of Kanzan Egen 關山慧玄 (1277–1360)
The Otokan lineage was founded by Nanpo Shōmyō, who received transmission in China from the monk Xutang Zhiyu 虚堂智愚 (Japanese Kido Chigu, 1185–1269) in 1265, and returned to Japan in 1267. It was then spread by his student Shuho Myocho (second generation) and Kanzan Egen (third generation), who made it an influential school.
It is today the only surviving lineage in the Rinzai school, and is historically the most influential. It is the lineage to which Hakuin Ekaku belonged, from whom all contemporary Rinzai lineages descend. It is also the lineage of the Ōbaku sect, which is closely related to Rinzai. Other Rinzai lineages previously existed, but no others survived the 19th century.
The public source identifies “Ōtōkan” as lineage of the Rinzai school of Zen (a form of Japanese Buddhism). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ōtōkan, lineage and Rinzai.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q8081781. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1235, 1308, 1265 and 1277.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ōtōkan” 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.