Omori Zenkai (大森禅戒)
Zenkai OMORI (1871- February 4, 1947) was a priest of the Soto Sect who had lived from the Meiji period to the Showa period. His secular surname was Yagi.
He had been an excellent priest who pursued his studies from a young age, and became a professor of the Soto-shu University (the antecedent of the present Komazawa University), where he had graduated, at the age of 29. After that, he studied abroad in Universities located in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany since February 1904, and went back to Japan in August 1911, after visiting India. He had been internationally active, and went overseas including European countries, Hawaii and the United States for inspection and missionary work. After he was placed in charge as the chief priest of the Jisho-ji Temple in the Yamanashi Prefecture and a professor of the Komazawa University, he assumed the position as chief abbot of the Soto Sect in 1940. In the following year, 1941, he assumed the position of the 70th chief abbot of the Grand Head Temple Eihei-ji Temple which was the top of the Soto Sect, but he announced his resignation soon after the ceremony of entering the temple and devoted himself to research after this. In 1947 he died of stroke.