Koyasan University

Koyasan University is founded on the teachings of Kobo Daishi Kukai, the great Japanese Buddhist monk and founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan.

Shingon Buddhism is a form of the Esoteric Buddhism that originated in India and was brought to Tang China. It was brought from Tang China to Japan in the Nara and early Heian periods, subsequently disappearing from China. The lineage of Tang Esoteric Buddhism has been preserved only in Japan to the present. Shingon Buddhism is related to the Vajrayana transmitted to Tibet from India but with a separate transmission lineage, and it is only in Tibet and Japan that Indian Esoteric Buddhism remains a living tradition. Shingon Buddhism is thus a unique development of Indian Esoteric Buddhism as transmitted from India to Tang China and then to Japan, where is has been studied and practiced for twelve centuries. Indian Esoteric Buddhism itself is a theoretical and practical development of Indian Mahayana Buddhism, and shares the same ideals and goals as Mahayana Buddhism.

Kukai spent many years of his life meditating and teaching at Koyasan, deep in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula in modern Wakayama Prefecture. Kukai emphasized the importance of education both in his writings and his deeds, having founded the first academy in Japan offering universal education. Koyasan University takes up and continues Kukai’s tradition by providing education and training to all in both Buddhism, including the training of Buddhist priests, as well as various related secular topics.

Koyasan University was founded in 1886, making it one of the oldest universities in Japan. Koyasan University developed into a modern university within the traditions and learning of the Buddhist training center founded by Kukai at Koyasan in 816, and so in a broad sense the roots of Koyasan University extend back over twelve centuries. Koyasan itself is registered as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, and is one of the few universities in the world to be situated within a World Heritage Site. With its extensive and rich history located in verdant natural surroundings, Koyasan University offers both modern academic training in a full range of Buddhist topics and fields, along with traditional studies of Shingon Buddhist doctrine and training in Shingon practice in order to make significant and timely contributions to global society and improvement of the condition of all beings everywhere.

The year 2015 marked the 1200th anniversary of the founding of Koyasan by Kukai, and the year 2016 marks the 130th anniversary of Koyasan University. On these auspicious occasions, Koyasan University reaffirmed its commitment to education and instruction in all forms of Buddhism and related disciplines, and extends a warm welcome to students of all backgrounds, religions, and nationalities to study at Koyasan University.