Kokan Shiren ［虎関師錬］ (1278–1346): Also known as Shiren. A priest of the Rinzai school of Zen in Japan. He received the precepts at Enryaku-ji, the head temple of the Tendai school, and later went to Kamakura where he studied under I-shan I-ning, a priest of the Lin-chi ( Rinzai) school who had come from China to Japan in 1299. In 1313 he returned to his birthplace, Kyoto, and lived at Tōfuku-ji, Nanzen-ji, and other temples. He enjoyed the confidence of the Retired Emperor Gofushimi and often preached the Zen teachings at the imperial court. He was also a distinguished poet and scholar of so-called Gozan literature (Chinese learning that developed in medieval Japan at key Zen temples in Kyoto and Kamakura). He was posthumously granted the title Teacher of the Nation Hongaku by the imperial court. His works include The Genkō Era Biographies of Eminent Priests, a biographical history of Buddhism in Japan.