also known as Konchiin Sūden, was a Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 Rinzai monk and advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

, and later to Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Hidetada

was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...

 and Iemitsu

Tokugawa Iemitsu

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651.-Early life :...

 on religious matters and foreign affairs. He played a significant role in the initial development of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

.

Sūden oversaw the administration of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the country alongside Itakura Katsushige

Itakura Katsushige

was a Japanese daimyō of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period to early Edo period. He fought at the side of Ieyasu Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.Katsuhige's daimyō family claimed descent from the Shibukawa branch of the Seiwa-Genji...

, and was involved in a great many diplomatic affairs along with advisors Hayashi Razan

Hayashi Razan

, also known as Hayashi Dōshun, was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher, serving as a tutor and an advisor to the first four shoguns of the Tokugawa bakufu. He is also attributed with first listing the Three Views of Japan. Razan was the founder of the Hayashi clan of Confucian scholars.Razan was...

 and Honda Masazumi

Honda Masazumi

' was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period, who served the Tokugawa clan. He later became a daimyo, and one of the first rōjū of the Tokugawa Shogunate....

. Sūden made his home at the Konchi-in temple he founded in Sunpu, and founded another one by the same name in Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 in 1618. He was abbot of Nanzen-ji

Nanzen-ji

, or Zuiryusan Nanzen-ji, formerly , is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Emperor Kameyama established it in 1291 on the site of his previous detached palace. It is also the headquarters of the Nanzen-ji branch of Rinzai Zen...

 in Kyoto.

Sūden played an important role in negotiations with the Chinese Ming

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 court over the reopening of trade and the problem of piracy

Wokou

Wokou , which literally translates as "Japanese pirates" in English, were pirates of varying origins who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century onwards...

.

Sūden was also involved in communications with the Spanish authorities in Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 and with the Kingdom of Siam

Ayutthaya kingdom

Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...

. He was instrumental in organizing and receiving Korean embassies to Japan.

He drafted a great many communications during this period, some of the more notable ones being rejections of the notion that the shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 should be referred to as a "king" (王, ō), as this would imply subordination to the Emperor of China

Emperor of China

The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...

 and tributary

Tribute

A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...

 status within the Sinocentric world order

Sinosphere

In areal linguistics, Sinosphere refers to a grouping of countries and regions that are currently inhabited with a majority of Chinese population or were historically under Chinese cultural influence...

.

Among his other works was the drafting in 1615 of the Buke shohatto

Buke shohatto

The was a collection of edicts issued by Japan's Tokugawa shogunate governing the responsibilities and activities of daimyō and the rest of the samurai warrior aristocracy. These formed the basis of the bakuhan taisei which lay at the foundation of the Tokugawa regime...

, which he then read at an assembly of daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

at Fushimi

Fushimi

Fushimi can refer to:*Emperor Fushimi of Japan*Fushimi, Kyoto, a ward of Kyoto City*Fushimi-no-miya, a branch of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, and the drafting of the edict banning Christianity in the previous year. In 1616, he oversaw the funeral services for Tokugawa Ieyasu, along with priests Tenkai

Tenkai

was a Japanese Tendai Buddhist monk of the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods. He achieved the rank of Daisōjō, the highest rank of the priesthood....

 and Bonshun.

Sūden compiled all the diplomatic records of his period of service into the Ikoku nikki (Chronicle of Foreign Countries). He authored the Honkō kokushi nikki (Chronicles of Master Honkō), both of which remain valuable primary sources on the nature of diplomacy of the time, and on specific events.

Selected works

• 影印本異国日記: 金地院崇伝外交文書集成 (Eiinbon Ikoku nikki: Konchiin Sūden gaikō monjo shūsei; Register of Foreign Affairs). Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu. 10-ISBN 4-808-70544-3/13-ISBN 978-4-808-70544-2; OCLC 21946525
• 新訂本光國師日記 (Shintei Honkō kokushi nikki (Chronicles of Master Honkō). Tokyo: Zoku Gunsho Ruijū Kanseikai. OCLC 41561229