Hoseki Shinichi Hisamatsu

Dr. Hosekei Shinichi Hisamatsu (1889–1980) was a philosopher, Zen Buddhist scholar, and Japanese tea ceremony ("Sadō" or the way of tea) master. He was also a professor at Kyoto University and received a honorary doctoral degree from Harvard University.

He was born in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. He entered the Kyoto University in 1912 and studied philosophy with Dr. Kitaro Nishida, who was the most prominent philosopher in Japan and the author of “an Inquiry into the Good”. With Dr. Nishida’s recommendation, Shinichi Hisamatsu joined the Rinzai Zen monastery at Myoshinji temple in Kyoto in 1915 and studied Zen Buddhism with Zen Master Shosan Ikegami. After his monastic life at Myoshinji temple, he established his original philosophical view, which consists of both Eastern (mainly, Zen Buddhism) and Western philosophy. Shortly after that, Shinichi Hisamatsu received a doctorate degree from the Kyoto University.

Between 1943 and 1949, he had taught philosophy and religious study at the Kyoto University. While he was in Kyoto, Dr. Hisamatsu frequently discussed Zen Buddhism and philosophy with D.T. Suzuki at Shunkoin temple, where Dr. Hisamatsu lived.

He traveled to Europe and the United States in 1957 and 1958. During his trip, Dr. Hisamatsu met and held talks with other famous philosophers and psychologists of the 20th century: Martin Buber, Rudolf Karl Bultmann, Martin Heidegger, Carl Gustav Jung, Gabriel Marcel, and Paul Johannes Tillich.

Dr. Hoseki Shinichi Hisamatsu was also a founder of the FAS Society. The FAS Society’s origin, Gakudo Dojo, was established by students of Kyoto University under the guidance of Dr. Hisamatsu. In 1960, Gakudo Dojo was renamed the FAS Society for their international activities. The purpose of this society is to spread the standpoint of the fundamental of self-awakening of all mankind.