Shūyū Narita

Shūyū Narita (成田祖伝秀夫, 1914–2004) was Kōdō Sawaki's first Dharma heir and the 28th abbot of Tōdenji (東傳寺) in Akita Prefecture, succeeding his father at the family temple^[1]. His own first-person testimony recorded by the Sōtō Zen Buddhist Community Spain confirms the primacy: "I was the first disciple to whom [Sawaki] transmitted the Dharma." In 1977 he travelled to Europe at Taisen Deshimaru's invitation and went on to become the principal Japanese-Sōtō shihō teacher of the independent European Antai-ji-line network, conferring transmission on Fausto Taiten Guareschi (1983, Fudenji, Italy), Ludger Tenryū Tenbreul (1986, Jakkō-ji, Germany), Francisco Dokushō Villalba (1987, Luz Serena, Spain), Denis Kengan Robert, Evelyne Fukusen Holzapfel, and Philippe Taihō Breal^[1][2].