# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/kukai
# Generated: 2026-09-07T18:12:30.426Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/kukai"
name: "Kūkai"
slug: "kukai"
description: "Kūkai , born Saeki no Mao  posthumously called Kōbō Daishi , was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the esoteric Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi under the monk Huiguo. Upon returning to Japan, he founded Shingon—the Japanese branch of Vajrayana Buddhism. With the blessing of several Emperors, Kūkai was able to preach Shingon teachings and found Shingon temples. Like other influential monks, Kūkai oversaw public works and constructions. Mount Kōya was chosen by him as a holy site, and he spent his later years there until his death in 835 CE."
tagline: "Japanese Buddhist monk and calligrapher, the founder of the Shingon school (774–835)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Kukai2.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Japan"
  isoCode: "JP"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "0774-07-27"
deathDate: "0835-04-22"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           61.56
  momentum:             12.2902422153467
  historical:           25.04475333333334
  currentAttention:     50.3598067023847
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%83%D9%88%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%8A"
    title: "كوكاي"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%83%D9%88%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%89"
    title: "كوكاى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukay"
    title: "Kukay"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ban.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D1%83%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B9"
    title: "Кукай"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BAkai"
    title: "Kúkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%A9%D9%88%DA%A9%D8%A7%DB%8C"
    title: "کوکای"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://frp.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koukai"
    title: "Koukai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BAkai"
    title: "Kúkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A9%BA%E6%B5%B7"
    title: "空海"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B5%AC%EC%B9%B4%EC%9D%B4"
    title: "구카이"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkajis"
    title: "Kūkajis"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://mg.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Kūkai"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E7%A9%BA%E6%B5%B7"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/K%C5%ABkai"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/7bcd0fe9-69db-40bd-a707-5845caaa7a4d"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q222227"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump