Often termed the third sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan, it was established in 1661 by a small faction of masters from China and their Japanese students at Manpuku-ji in Uji, Japan.
Today Manpuku-ji serves as the Ōbaku's head temple, with 420 subtemples spread throughout Japan as of 2006.[1] In addition to their contribution to the culture of Zen in Japan, the Ōbaku also "disseminated many aspects of Ming-period culture" in the country.[2] Many of the monks who came from China were accomplished calligraphers, and Obaku's founder Yinyuan Longqi and two other Ōbaku masters, Mokuan Shōtō and Sokuhi Nyoitsu, became known as the Ōbaku no Sanpitsu (or, the "Three Brushes of Ōbaku").
Ōbaku no Sanpitsu (黄檗三筆) is a name given to a group of three famous Chinese calligraphers who lived in Japan:
- Ingen Ryūki, 隱元隆琦 1592-1673
- Mokuan Shōtō,木庵性瑫 1611-1684
- Sokuhi Nyoitsu, 即非如一 1616-1671
The Ōbaku school is also well known for its style of vegetarian cooking known as fucha ryōri (普茶料理), its version of Buddhist cuisine (in Japan known as shōjin ryōri (精進料理, devotion cuisine)). This is similar to usual shōjin ryōri, but with more Chinese influence.
The Ōbaku school also introduced to Japan and practices a variant of the Japanese tea ceremony which uses sencha leaf tea, rather than the more usual matcha powdered tea – see sencha tea ceremony. Generally it involves the high-grade gyokuro class of sencha.
Uji (宇治市 Uji-shi) is a city on the southern outskirts of the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.
