Huayan studies were founded in Japan when, in 736, the scholar-priest Rōben (良辯 or 良弁) originally a monk of the Hossō tradition invited Shinshō (審祥, also in Japanese Shinjō, Chinese Shen-hsiang, Korean Simsang) to give lectures on the Avatamsaka Sutra at Kinshōsen-ji (金鐘山寺, also 金鐘寺 Konshu-ji or Kinshō-ji), the origin of later Tōdai-ji.
Little is known about Tokuitsu's early life, but records state that he studied Hossō doctrine at an early age at Kōfuku-ji, then later Tōdai-ji.