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Sûden was a [[Zen Buddhism|Zen]] [[Rinzai]] monk who acted as an advisor to [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] on both religious matters and on foreign affairs. As a result, he played a notable role in those spheres in the foundation of the [[Tokugawa clan|Tokugawa]] shogunate.  

Sûden was a [[Rinzai]] [[Zen Buddhism|Zen]] monk who acted as an advisor to [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] on both religious matters and on foreign affairs. As a result, he played a notable role in those spheres in the foundation of the [[Tokugawa clan|Tokugawa]] shogunate.  

The son of an [[Ashikga clan]] retainer, Sûden was the head of [[Nanzen-ji]] in [[Kyoto]] when he was called upon by Tokugawa Ieyasu in [[1608]] to serve as a foreign policy advisor.<ref>Cesare Polenghi, ''Samurai of Ayutthaya: Yamada Nagamasa, Japanese warrior and merchant in early seventeenth-century Siam''. Bangkok: White Lotus Press (2009), 14.</ref>

The son of an [[Ashikaga clan]] retainer, Sûden was the head of [[Nanzen-ji]] in [[Kyoto]] when he was called upon by Tokugawa Ieyasu in [[1608]] to serve as a foreign policy advisor.<ref>Cesare Polenghi, ''Samurai of Ayutthaya: Yamada Nagamasa, Japanese warrior and merchant in early seventeenth-century Siam''. Bangkok: White Lotus Press (2009), 14.</ref>

Sûden was tasked by Ieyasu with recording the shogunate's diplomatic activities and communications; these records, collected over the period from 1608 to [[1629]], were compiled into a volume titled ''Ikoku nikki'' ("Chronicle of Foreign Countries").<ref>Polenghi, 6.</ref> Sûden also oversaw the administration of the country's [[Buddhist temple]]s and [[Shinto shrine]]s along with [[Itakura Katsushige]], and inaugurated two temples called [[Konchi-in]], one in [[Sunpu]], where he made his home, and another in [[Edo]].

Sûden was tasked by Ieyasu with recording the shogunate's diplomatic activities and communications; these records, collected over the period from 1608 to [[1629]], were compiled into a volume titled ''Ikoku nikki'' ("Chronicle of Foreign Countries").<ref>Polenghi, 6.</ref> Sûden also oversaw the administration of the country's [[Buddhist temple]]s and [[Shinto shrine]]s along with [[Itakura Katsushige]], and inaugurated two temples called [[Konchi-in]], one in [[Sunpu]], where he made his home, and another in [[Edo]].