Omori Sogen

Omori Sogen (1904–1994) has been called the greatest Rinzai Zen master of the twentieth century, a title earned through his unique synthesis of Zen realization, martial arts mastery, and artistic accomplishment. Born in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, he pursued the way of the sword from an early age, becoming a master of Jikishinkage-ryū kenjutsu. He also devoted himself to calligraphy in the Taishi school tradition of Yamaoka Tesshū, the great nineteenth-century swordsman-calligrapher-statesman who was himself a deeply realized Zen practitioner. Omori received dharma transmission in the Tenryū-ji line of Rinzai Zen, becoming a dharma successor of Bokuo Soun.

What distinguished Omori from other modern Zen teachers was his insistence that Zen, swordsmanship, and calligraphy were not separate disciplines but three expressions of a single awakened activity. He served as president of Hanazono University in Kyoto, the Rinzai-affiliated institution, and trained students who went on to become important teachers in their own right. His book "An Introduction to Zen Training" (Sanzen Nyūmon) is considered one of the clearest and most authoritative modern guides to Rinzai Zen practice, combining traditional instruction with his own experience.

In 1979, Omori founded Daihonzan Chozen-ji in Honolulu, Hawaii — the first Rinzai Zen headquarters temple (honzan) established outside Japan. Chozen-ji embodied his vision of Zen training integrated with martial arts and fine arts, offering instruction in kendō, kyūdō (archery), and calligraphy alongside formal zazen and koan practice. This was not eclecticism but a principled conviction that the body and its disciplines are inseparable from spiritual realization. Omori's legacy thus represents both a recovery of the ancient connection between Zen and the warrior arts and a bold step in Zen's global expansion.