Risshu School

One of the Six Buddhist Schools of Nara and focuses on monastic precepts, the rules governing daily conduct for Buddhist monks and nuns. The school was founded in China during the Tang dynasty by the monk Daoxuan, and brought to Japan by his disciple Jianzhen, known in Japan as Ganjin, who established Toshodaiji in 759 as its principal temple. The first four generations of head priests were not Japanese. The school declined from the 12th century onward as easier-to-practice schools became popular, and fell briefly under Shingon jurisdiction after the Meiji Restoration before regaining independence in 1900 and returning its headquarters to Toshodaiji.