Genbō

Genbō (玄昉, d. 746) was a Japanese scholar-monk and bureaucrat of the Imperial Court at Nara.

[1] He is best known as a leader of the Hossō sect of Buddhism and as the adversary of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu.

[2] In 717–718, Genbō was part of the Japanese mission to Tang China (Kentōshi) along with Kibi no Makibi,[3] Abe no Nakamaro.

[6] Genbō brought many esoteric Buddhist texts with him when he returned to Japan.

[1] At the time of Genbō's death, it was popularly believed that he was killed by the vengeful spirit of Hirotsugu.