Toshoji Monastery, home of the Soto Zen International Training Monastery, was founded in the 8th Century. It is located in the Bicchu region in Okayama Prefecture Japan.
In 1412 it became a temple of the Soto sect, restored by Kisan Zenji, who established his master Jochu Zenji, as the founder of the Temple. Kisan Zenji was abbot of Toshoji for 31 years, during which time it grew to be a large monastery. Many of its disciples went on to found their own temples; during the Enkyo period alone, over 40 Tosho branch temples were founded across Japan. Eventually, the Tosho family of temples, known as the Kisan-ha, came to number over 1000.
Toshoji is now in its 100th abbot, Korin Seido Suzuki Roshi. In 2009 Seido Roshi reopened Toshoji as a training monastery, and in 2014 Toshoji became the official international training monastery of the Soto school (Shuritsu Senmon Sodo). During this time, Toshoji has hosted hundreds of monks, nuns and laypeople, from 41 countries.
