Kosho uchiyama biography of rory

Sōtō priest, origami master, and abbot

Kosho Uchiyama (内山 興正, Uchiyama Kōshō, 1912 – March 13, 1998) was a Sōtō Zen monk, origami master, and abbot of Antai-ji near Kyoto, Japan.

Uchiyama was author of more than twenty books on Zen Buddhism and origami, of which Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice is best known.

Education and career

Uchiyama graduated from Waseda University with a master's degree in Western philosophy in 1937 and was ordained a priest in 1941 by his teacher Kōdō Sawaki.

Kosho uchiyama biography of rory allen

Throughout his life, Uchiyama lived with the damaging effects of tuberculosis.

Uchiyama became abbot of Antai-ji following Sawaki's death in 1965 until he retired in 1975 to Nokei-in, also near Kyoto, where he lived with his wife.

Following the death of his teacher he led a forty-nine-day sesshin in memorial of his teacher. In retirement he continued his writing, the majority of which consisted of poetry.

Opening the Hand of Thou