| Zen 禅 | |
| Director: | Banmei Takahashi |
| Screenplay: | Banmei Takahashi |
| Based On: | A novel by Tetsuo Ōtani |
| Starring: | Nakamura Kantarō II Yuki Uchida |
| Music: | Ryudo Uzaki |
| Editing: | Junichi Kikuchi |
| Studio: | Kadokawa Pictures Twins Japan |
| Distributor: | Kadokawa Pictures |
| Runtime: | 127 minutes |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese Mandarin |
is a 2009 film directed by Banmei Takahashi and starring Nakamura Kantarō II as Dogen, and Yuki Uchida as Orin.[1] [2] The story is based on the novel Eihei no kaze: Dōgen no shōgai written by Tetsuo Ōtani in 2001.[3]
The film is a biography of Dōgen Zenji, a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher. After travelling to China to study, Dogen founded the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. The Buddhist Film Foundation described it as "a poignant, in-depth, reverent and surprisingly moving portrait of Eihei Dogen."[4]
Russell Edwards of Variety described it as "The origins of a spiritual tradition are depicted with prerequisite solemnity and a pleasing veneer of arthouse showmanship."[5] Mark Schilling, writing for The Japan Times, gave the film three and a half stars and described it as a "rare serious film about this form of Buddhism, which has had a huge cultural influence but is little understood — let alone practiced — by ordinary Japanese."[6]
The film premiered in Japan in 2009. The following year, it had its US debut at the International Buddhist Film Festival.[7] The film was released on DVD and includes a short documentary entitled The Zen of Dogen with Kazuaki Tanahashi.[8]