Our great friend and sewing teacher Tomoe Katagiri left this world on May 30. Tomoe touched my life in so many ways, and I will forever remember her with love, admiration, and gratitude. 

​Do you have memories or stories about Tomoe that you'd like to share?  We'd love to post them for others to read. Head over to the Tomoe Katagiri remembrances page and use the submission form there. You can also click comments here on the blog, and your entry will be posted on the remembrances page. 

Here's Tomoe's obituary, which was published in the newspaper on June 14:
       Tomoe Katagiri passed away peacefully at home in Minneapolis on May 30, 2026, at the age of 94. She grew up in Tokyo, Japan, then moved to the United States in 1965, where she and her husband, the late Zen Master Dainin Katagiri (1928-1990), played important roles in the development of Zen Buddhism in America, initially at the San Francisco Zen Center in California. In 1972 they moved to Minnesota, where Katagiri Roshi founded the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis and Hokyoji Zen Practice Community in Eitzen. At that time, Zen was established primarily on the east and west coasts, so they were pioneers in bringing Zen to the Midwest.
One of Tomoe’s first contributions to American Zen was learning how to sew the round zafu cushions that practitioners sit on during meditation. She modified the design, making the cushions bigger and sturdier to better support taller and heavier Western bodies. Next, using reverse-engineering, she worked out how to sew Japanese-style Zen practice garments and then redesigned them to accommodate the variety of American shapes and sizes.
Most notably, Tomoe was one of the first people in the United States to learn the complex techniques for sewing the Buddhist ceremonial robes called okesa and rakusu, which have roots in the Buddha’s instructions to his followers. As she learned, Tomoe also began to teach these challenging techniques to others. Dedicated to the Way of Sewing since first meeting her teacher, the esteemed Zen Master Eshun Yoshida, in 1970, Tomoe was recognized as a sewing master by Yoshida Roshi in a 1980 ceremony held in Japan.
For over 40 years, Tomoe taught Zen sewing in Minnesota, around the country, and internationally, making many lifelong friends along the way. She humbly and patiently guided countless students to engage with sewing as a spiritual practice while they created their own Buddhist robes. In 1986, she wrote Study of the Okesa, Nyoho-e: Buddha’s Robe, a widely used guide to the history, meaning, and techniques of Buddhist sewing that students still rely on. Her knowledge continues to be shared through the teachers she trained to succeed her.
Beyond sewing, Tomoe also contributed to many aspects of Zen Center life. Her warm heart and sincere presence helped people feel at home with Zen, and many saw her as a guiding spirit.  After retiring in 2013, she found joy in creating beautiful and nourishing gardens at home and at Hokyoji, and spending time with friends and her growing family. Throughout her long life, Tomoe was a beloved model of Buddhism as a caring, generous, and attentive way of living every day.
Tomoe is survived by her loving and devoted family: two sons and daughter-in-law, four grandchildren, and their families. A memorial service will be held on June 28 at 2:00 p.m. at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, 3343 East Bde Maka Ska Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55408.   

On this 36th Katagiri Roshi Memorial Day, I also honor historian, archivist, and author David Chadwick, whose work was important to this project. Sadly, he passed away in Bali on February 23. 
Chadwick's teacher was Shunryu Suzuki, but he also knew Dainin Katagiri well and practiced with him at various times. Stories about Katagiri Roshi that Chadwick recounted in his books: Thank You and OK! An American Zen Failure in Japan (1994) and Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki (1999), warmed my heart and were tremendously helpful when I was doing research for my essay, “Ceaseless Effort: The Life of Dainin Katagiri.”
The vast archive of print material that Chadwick gathered on his Cuke.com website was also important to my research. Original audio and transcripts of interviews he conducted with many of the folks who were there for the early days of Soto Zen in America are also on Cuke.com. And in 2024 he started the Cuke Audio Podcast, interviewing 100 more people with various connections to the San Francisco Zen Center, Tassajara, and Green Gulch Farm. Many of his interviews gave me new insights into Katagiri Roshi’s life in California and Minnesota.
So, with a bow of deep appreciation I say, “Thank you, David, and may you rest in peace.”
Andrea Martin

Dainin Katagiri Roshi was born on this day in 1928. January 19 is also widely recognized as the birthdate of Eihei Dogen Zenji (1200-1253), who founded Soto Zen in Japan. I find it a delightful coincidence that Katagiri and Dogen share a birthday, as Katagiri Roshi was deeply devoted to the study of Dogen’s Shobogenzo and other writings. In Japan, however, the Soto School traditionally observes Dogen’s “official” birthday on January 26. In the United States, today is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when we celebrate the legacy of our great civil rights leader (1929-1968). So, honoring all three men today, with deep appreciation for their great effort and all that has flowed from it.

Here’s a wonderful example of Katagiri Roshi's calligraphy. This image is a page from the booklet published last year by Hokyoji Zen Practice Community for their zendo capital campaign. ​I’ve always wondered about the meaning of the red seal in the upper right corner of Katagiri Roshi’s calligraphies and was happy to find it explained here. You can find more of Katagiri Roshi's calligraphy in this album on the Katagiri Project website.

Thirty-five years have passed since Katagiri Roshi's death on March 1, 1990. To honor the day, I'm posting this heartfelt message from Shohaku Okumura Roshi, which he wrote for a special memorial event held at Ryumonji and Hokyoji in 2022:
 
I first met Katagiri Roshi when he and his family visited Antaiji in 1972, which was right before they moved to Minneapolis. I saw him again a few years later when he visited the Boston Shambhala Center while I was practicing at Pioneer Valley Zendo in Massachusetts. That was just after MZMC bought the land for Hokyoji. After these two brief encounters, I had the chance to deeply practice with him for one month [in 1988] when he led the Tokubetsu sesshin for western Soto Zen teachers at Daijo-ji in Kanazawa, Japan. It was hearing his lectures on Shobogenzo Kuge during that sesshin that gave me the confidence to carry out my teacher’s request for me to teach the Shobogenzo in English. Until that time, I was very uncertain that I would ever have the ability to do such a thing. Seeing him impressed me deeply. Without this experience with Katagiri Roshi, I would never have had the chance to move to Minneapolis and continue to work in the USA. I also do not think I would have ever started my work translating the Shobogenzo and teaching it in English.
I am deeply grateful for the connection I had with Katagiri roshi, and the connection I continue to have with many of his disciples that I met during that time. Although he has been gone for 33 years, his life and teaching continue to live with us today as strongly as ever.
Gassho,
Shohaku Okumura

​     On December 8, Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day, the day that Siddhartha Gotama awakened, or attained spiritual enlightenment, and thus became known as the Buddha. Around the world there are Zen practitioners participating in a 7-day sesshin, honoring the Buddha’s great effort, and their own, on this 8th day of the 12th month (rohatsu).
      When Katagiri Roshi established that practice at MZMC in 1973, Rohatsu sesshins were held at the end of the year, leading up to New Year’s Eve and including New Year’s Day. Then, in 1983, he began scheduling them to coincide with Bodhi Day. During the 1988 Rohatsu sesshin, Katagiri Roshi lectured on Dogen’s Shobogenzo Baika (Plum Blossoms). He intended to give his seventh and final talk on December 8 but was too ill to do so. His public teaching days were almost over by then.
      I’m writing this on December 7, the day in 1941 that Imperial Japanese forces attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. According to the Japanese calendar, it was December 8. I have often wondered if Japanese military leaders chose that date because they felt it to be an auspicious one, but apparently it was just a coincidence. 
      Wherever you are, may Bodhi Day be a day of peace for you,
       Andrea
​

When Rev. Ben Connelly was in Japan this spring, he had the very special opportunity to meet with Shundo Aoyama Roshi. A revered nun, illustrious training abbess, and author of Zen Seeds, she was the first woman to be appointed to the rank of Daikyoshi (Great Teacher) in the Soto Zen school and is now considered a living treasure.
Meeting with Ben, Aoyama Roshi was eager to talk about her friendship with Katagiri Roshi. They had gone to college together at Komazawa University, where she was one of the first nuns to receive a Master of Arts degree. She told Ben that Katagiri Roshi was one of her early and strongest supporters. Throughout her career, he supported her moving up and pushing through barriers to her authority. He was also the first person to invite her to the United States, one of only two trips she has made here.
Hearing this story warmed my heart. I see that Katagiri Roshi was already a staunch supporter of parity for women in Zen long before he arrived in the West.
 
Peace, Andrea

​Today is the anniversary of Katagiri Roshi’s death in 1990. Following Zen tradition, as the end of his life came into view, he composed this bequeathed verse, known as a yuige: 

     Living in vow, silently sitting
     Sixty-three years
     Plum blossoms begin to bloom
     The jeweled mirror reflects truth as it is
 
Shohaku Okumura Roshi gave an excellent talk on this yuige to the MZMC community last November. He said that while he was long familiar with the poem, recently seeing it written in Japanese had given him new insight into its meaning. This is a wonderful talk to listen to. ​You can find it at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs_sWLkyS5o

​ Peace, Andrea

We celebrated Katagiri Roshi’s 96th birthday last week (although it’s been 34 years since we celebrated it with him). In 2024, honoring Soto Zen’s Chinese roots, we also celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Emyo Nakayama, one Katagiri Roshi’s original dharma heirs, recently offered these wonderful words on dragons, and the significance of his birth in a dragon year:
 
“Katagiri Roshi was born in a dragon year. The dragon is characterized by a lot of energy/power and people born in these years are charismatic, intelligent, confident, and lucky. When I was given something by him - be it instruction or something like a book - he referred to it as "the dew of a dragon". I have never forgotten that and in this new year, I am reminded all the more of his gifts to me. In Chinese Zen Buddhist teaching, the dragon is a symbol of attainment, and many stories talk about something that perseveres and in the blink of an eye becomes a dragon. Katagiri Roshi was, more than anyone I have ever known, a person who persevered. For this reason, I will always think of him together with the image of a dragon.”
 
With appreciation, Andrea

Here at the Katagiri Project, we do our best to maintain a chart of Katagiri Roshi’s dharma family. The lineage chart is a family tree of the priests and lay teachers in the Katagiri lineage who have received dharma transmission or are actively engaged in practice that might lead to that. Katagiri Roshi formally entrusted his dharma to twelve priests in 1989. Now his dharma family tree has 122 names in five generations. Folks in the fifth generation can name Katagiri Roshi as their dharma great-great grandfather!
 
We recently posted an updated version of the lineage chart (www.mnzencenter.org/biography-and-lineage.html).   If you know of other people who belong in the chart, or any other updates, please let me know about them via [email protected]. Thank you so much!
 
Peace, Andrea