, a former 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...

, was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese Rinzai master well-known for his commentary on the Mumonkan. One of his better-known students is Keido Fukushima

Keido Fukushima

Keido Fukushima （福島 慶道, Fukushima Keidō 1933 – March 1, 2011） was a Japanese Rinzai master who has had an influence on Rinzai practice in the United States. He was the abbot of Tofuku-ji in Kyoto, Japan, where several American teachers and Muho Noelke, the German abbot of Antaiji, have trained...

, abbot of Tōfuku-ji

Tofuku-ji

is a Buddhist temple in Higashiyama-ku in Kyoto, Japan. Tōfuku-ji takes its name from two temples in Nara, Tōdai-ji and Kōfuku-ji. It is one of the so-called Kyoto Gozan or "five great Zen temples of Kyoto". Its honorary sangō prefix is .-History:...

. Shibayama also taught at Otani University

Otani University

is a private Buddhist university located in Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The university was founded in 1901 as "Shinshū University" in Tokyo with Kiyozawa Manshi as the president.-Notable alumni and faculty:*Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki*Kaneko Daiei*Keido Fukushima...

and was the head abbot of the entire Nanzenji Organization, overseeing the administration of over five hundred temples.
Due to a number of lecture tours he undertook to the United States in the 1960s, and the translation of several of his books into English, Shibayama was a significant contributor to the establishment of Zen in America.