In the past, a famous monk named Kōbō-Daishi traveled throughout Japan and founded many temples.
The Kana preface to Kokin Wakashū was the second earliest expression of literary theory and criticism in Japan (the earliest was by Kūkai).
In 816, Emperor Saga accepted Kūkai's request to establish a mountain retreat at Mount Kōya as a retreat from worldly affairs.
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Meanwhile, Kukai's new esoteric teachings and literature drew scrutiny from a noted scholar-monk of the time named Tokuitsu, who traded letters back and forth in 815 asking for clarification.
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Professor Abe suggests that the Mahavairocana Tantra bridged the gap between his interest in the practice of religious exercises and the doctrinal knowledge acquired through his studies.
Kūkai learned of the Mahāvairocana Tantra in 796, and travelled to China in 804 to receive instruction in it.
Kakuban was born in Fujitsu-no-shō (Hizen Province, nowadays part of Kashima City, Saga Prefecture) about three hundred years after Shingon Buddhism was first founded by Kūkai (空海).
He exhibited outstanding talent in calligraphy, and his uncle, who was a priest of the Kōyasan Shingon-shū on Mount Kōya, encouraged his interest in the writing style of Kūkai.