Sando Kaisen
Taisen Deshimaru
Kōdō Sawaki
Since he met Deshimaru Roshi in 1968, Sando Kaisen has continued to pass on his teaching to this day, leading an important mission in France and throughout Central and Eastern Europe, extending as far as Vladivostok, a stone’s throw from Japan itself.
He is not one to boast of having received transmission from so-and-so, no matter how worthy of honor they might be. Indeed, Sando Kaisen has twice declined official transmission, once at Eihei-ji and again at Soto-shu, where it was proposed by Kuroyanagi and Matsunaga Roshi.
He received the full support and encouragement of Kosaka Kiyu Roshi, from Sengaku-ji in Tokyo, the transmission expert for Eihei-ji and Soji-ji. It was he who encouraged Deshimaru’s mission in France, urging him to create a European Zen and to distance himself from the administrative and political Zen prevalent in Japan.
Sando Kaisen visited and travelled with two of the last surviving comrades of Kodo Sawaki Roshi on the island of Kyushu: Honda Kansho Roshi and Shibuya Ishii, the great disciple of Kodo Sawaki at Zui Seki-ji near Shizuoka. With them, he visited the tomb of Kodo Sawaki at Entai-ji.