Shinjō [審祥] (n.d.) (; Kor Simsang): The founder of the Japanese Flower Garland (Kegon) school in the eighth century. He was believed to be a native of Silla, a kingdom on the Korean Peninsula, but recent research suggests he was a Japanese priest who had traveled to Silla to study Buddhism. From Japan he went to China, where he studied the Flower Garland doctrine under Fa-tsang, the third patriarch of the Chinese Flower Garland (Hua-yen) school. After returning to Japan, he lived at Daian-ji temple in Nara. In 740 he lectured on the Flower Garland Sutra at Konshō-ji temple, later known as Tōdai-ji temple, at the request of that temple’s founder, Rōben. This was the first lecture on the Flower Garland Sutra to be given in Japan. Shinjō propagated the Flower Garland teaching with the support of Emperor Shōmu and fostered many disciples. Rōben was his successor.