Rinzai school ［臨済宗］ ( Rinzai-shū): One of the major Zen schools in Japan. It was founded by Eisai, who introduced the Huang-lung ( Ōryū) branch of the Lin-chi (Rinzai) school to Japan from China. In China, the Lin-chi school was founded by I-hsüan (d. 867) who lived at Lin-chi-yüan temple. Eisai brought the teachings of the Lin-chi school to Japan in 1191, and in 1202 founded Kennin-ji temple, the first Zen temple in Kyoto. Other branches of Rinzai were established by Enni who went to China in 1235 and studied Lin-chi, and by the naturalized Japanese priests Rankei Dōryū (Chin Lan-ch’i Tao-lung), Mugaku Sogen (Wu-hsüeh Tsu-yüan), and others who came from China in the thirteenth century to propagate the Zen teachings. The Rinzai school became popular among the samurai and nobility and prospered through the support of the Kamakura shogunate. At present, the Rinzai school has fourteen branches. In addition to the seated meditation ( zazen) emphasized by the Sōtō school, Rinzai employs a form of training called kōan in Japanese (Chin kung-an), problems comprising sutra passages, presentations from Zen teachers, questions and answers, short exchanges, etc., that are beyond logical solution. Kōan employs paradox as a means of transcending rational reasoning and stimulating intuitive insight. The famous question “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” which in the West has come to characterize Zen thinking, is an example of a kōan. See also Lin-chi school.