Tsūgen Jakurei

Tsūgen Jakurei (通幻寂霊, 1322–1391) was one of Gasan Jōseki's five great heirs (the *Gasan-go-tetsu*) and the founder of the Tsūgen-ha sub-line of medieval Sōtō, which became the largest of Gasan's five branches with approximately 8,900 affiliated temples at its eventual peak^[1]. He received Dharma transmission from Gasan in 1352 at Sōji-ji, having earlier been ordained by Jōzan Sozen at Daikō-ji (age 17) and trained for some ten years from 1340 under Meihō Sotetsu at Daijō-ji before formally entering Gasan's community^[1][2].

Tsūgen served as the 5th abbot of Sōji-ji from 1368 (with later returns in 1382 and 1388) and founded the temples Yōtaku-ji (永澤寺, 1370, under Hosokawa Yoriyuki / Emperor Go-En'yū's edict) and Ryūsen-ji (1386). His own line of ten major heirs (*Tsūgen-jittetsu*, 通幻十哲) — Ryōan Emyō, Sekioku Shinryō, Ikkei Eijū, Fusai Zenkyū, Fuken Myōken, Tentoku Donjō, and others — populated Sōji-ji's rotating abbacy and the regional Sōtō network for the following centuries^[1].