Shinko Oyama, born in Kagoshima in 1948, is a Buddhist monk of the Shingon Ritsushu sect. He serves at Rengein Tanjo Temple in Tamana City, Kumamoto Prefecture, where he is the head of the Naikan Training Institute. He also serves as a councilor at the Japan Naikan Society, the secretary general of the Kyushu Naikan Association, and the chairman of the Kumamoto Naikan Association.
He went to La Salle High School in Kagoshima and studied political economics at Waseda University. His life reached a turning point when he met the founder of Naikan, Mr. Ishin Yoshimoto, while working for Itochu Corporation and Fuji Xerox. In 1987, he completed his training as a Shingon Ritsushu monk at the Koyasan Special Institute and has remained a Buddhist monk to this day. It has been 30 years since the Naikan Training Institute in Rengein Tanjo Temple was established. Naikan training is carried out there once or twice a month. More than 3000 people have received this training. Naikan is also available in English, and there even are participants from America, Korea, and Europe. Naikan instruction and lectures are also actively conducted in universities and other outside institutions. Mr. Oyama’s mission is to use Naikan to help people in Japan and the rest of the world lead happy lives. On the Rengein Tanjo Temple website, he posts a free e-mail magazine called Kofuku News, and he writes a blog where he uses the name “Smiling Monk.” He also responds to e-mails through E-mail Naikan.