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Saichô was the founder of the [[Tendai]] sect of Buddhism in Japan.

Saichô was the founder of the [[Tendai]] sect of Buddhism in Japan.

A monk who left the urban Buddhism of [[Nara]] to become a recluse on [[Mt. Hiei]], he built a small shrine in [[788]]. He was sent by the [[Emperor Kammu]] with a Japanese embassy to China under [[Fujiwara Kadonomaro]], to study in China in [[804]]. He returned in [[805]] to found the Tendai Lotus sect of Japanese Buddhism. His small monastery, the [[Enryaku-ji]], on Mt. Hiei was enlarged, and grew steadily in power and influence over the centuries, until it was nearly eradicated by [[Oda Nobunaga]] in [[1571]].   

He is said to have been of mixed Chinese and Japanese parentage.<ref>Gary Leupp, ''Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900'', A&C Black (2003), 52.</ref> A monk who left the urban Buddhism of [[Nara]] to become a recluse on [[Mt. Hiei]], Saichô built a small shrine in [[788]]. He was sent by the [[Emperor Kammu]] with a Japanese embassy to China under [[Fujiwara Kadonomaro]], to study in China in [[804]]. He returned in [[805]] to found the Tendai Lotus sect of Japanese Buddhism. His small monastery, the [[Enryaku-ji]], on Mt. Hiei was enlarged, and grew steadily in power and influence over the centuries, until it was nearly eradicated by [[Oda Nobunaga]] in [[1571]].   

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==References==

==References==

*Gallery label, "Portrait of Dengyô Daishi," 1974.35, Walters Art Museum.

*Gallery label, "Portrait of Dengyô Daishi," 1974.35, Walters Art Museum.

[[Category:Religious Figures]][[Category:Nara Period]][[Category:Heian Period]]

[[Category:Religious Figures]][[Category:Nara Period]][[Category:Heian Period]]