Songyu (存牛)
Songyu (July 22, 1469 - January 17, 1550) was a Jodo Sect priest who lived from the middle of the Muromachi period to the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States) (Japan). His father was Chikatada MATSUDAIRA of Mikawa Province. His Buddhist name was Sonrensha Choyo. His shigo (posthumous name) was Koken Shinshu Kokushi.
He studied under Sonkei, the kaisan (founder of a temple and the first chief priest) of Shinkomyo-ji Temple in Mikawa Province and became a priest, then studied religious doctrines from Ryogyo. He assumed the position of the third chief priest in Shinkomyo-ji Temple, and then succeeded to Chion-in Temple in Kyoto as the 25th chief priest in 1521. He reconstructed Chion-in Temple which had been devastated during the Onin War, and was permitted by the Emperor Gokashiwabara to call it the Grand Head Temple of the Jodo Sect.