LINGUIST

Kūkai

774 - 835

Photo of Kūkai

Icon of person Kūkai

Kūkai (空海; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835), born Saeki no Mao (佐伯 眞魚), posthumously called Kōbō Daishi (弘法大師, "The Grand Master who Propagated the Dharma"), was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the esoteric Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi (Chinese Vajrayana Buddhism) under the monk Huiguo. Upon returning to Japan, he founded Shingon—the Japanese branch of Vajrayana Buddhism. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Kūkai has received more than 631,343 page views. His biography is available in 42 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 41 in 2019). Kūkai is the 16th most popular linguist (up from 17th in 2019), the 92nd most popular biography from Japan (up from 119th in 2019) and the most popular Japanese Linguist.

Kūkai is most famous for the establishment of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, which emphasizes the importance of meditation and mantras.

Memorability Metrics

  • 630k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 64.98

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 42

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.81

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.71

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among LINGUISTS

Among linguists, Kūkai ranks 16 out of 214. Before him are Mesrop Mashtots, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Franz Bopp, Pāṇini, August Schleicher, and Rasmus Rask. After him are Edward Sapir, Algirdas Julien Greimas, Patanjali, Jost Gippert, Georges Dumézil, and Johann Martin Schleyer.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 774, Kūkai ranks 1.  Among people deceased in 835, Kūkai ranks 1. After him are Muhammad al-Jawad, Jayavarman II, Berengar the Wise, and Ibrahim al-Nazzam.

Others Born in 774

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  • Photo of Kūkai

    Kūkai

    LINGUIST

    774 - 835

    HPI: 64.98

    Rank: 1

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Others Deceased in 835

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Kūkai ranks 92 out of 6,245. Before him are Shin'ichirō Tomonaga (1906), Sakamoto Ryōma (1836), Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952), Joe Hisaishi (1950), Tadamichi Kuribayashi (1891), and Kōbō Abe (1924). After him are Emperor Itoku (-553), Prince Shōtoku (574), Benkei (1155), Empress Go-Sakuramachi (1740), Naoto Kan (1946), and Akira Suzuki (1930).

Others born in Japan

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Among LINGUISTS In Japan

Among linguists born in Japan, Kūkai ranks 1. After him are Nakahama Manjirō (1827), Kunio Yanagita (1875), and Takekazu Asaka (1952).

Japanese born Linguists

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