Kikuin

Died: 1620
Japanese: 菊隠 (Kikuin)

Kikuin was a Ryukyuan Zen monk of the early 17th century.

After studying under Zen master Dôkan of the Okinawan Engaku-ji, he took the tonsure and journeyed to Kyoto to practice at the five top Zen temples of that city. There, he was granted the monastic name Kikuin, by the Zen master Kokei Sôchin.

During the 1609 Shimazu clan invasion of Ryûkyû, King Shô Nei called upon Kikuin to serve as lead negotiator in the hopes of achieving an end to the invasion. In 1611, Kikuin then traveled to Satsuma han, and entered into the service of the Shimazu clan. He was named sesshô and was put in charge of overseeing certain matters relating to Ryûkyû. At some point, he re-entered the service of King Shô Nei and served as kokusô (roughly, "prime minister") until 1616.

Kikuin died in 1620.

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References

Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 55.
Gregory Smits, Maritime Ryukyu, University of Hawaii Press (2019), 194.