Jinpan (尋範)

Jinpan (1093 - 1174) was a Buddhist priest in the late Heian period. He was the seventeenth son of Sessho (regent) FUJIWARA no Morozane. His mother was either a daughter of Udaijin (Minister of the Right) MINAMOTO no Morofusa or a daughter of FUJIWARA no Tadatoshi, who was FUJIWARA no Takaie's grandson; Gyogen was his half-brother by the same mother.
According to "Sonpi Bunmyaku" (biographies of nobles and humbles), he was also called 'Jinkaku.'

He became Kofuku-ji betto (the head priest of Kofuku-ji Temple) in 1164, Sojo (high-ranking Buddhist priest) in 1167, and was appointed Emperor Rokujo's Gojiso (a priest who prays for the emperor) in 1165 for the first time as a priest in Nara. He was revered by people as a high-ranking priest from Sekkan-ke (the families that produced regents) as well as for his virtuous character; FUJIWARA no Tadamichi's son Shinen and FUJIWARA no Yorinaga's son Norinaga were his disciples.

He was politically close to Yorinaga at first, and he forfeited his fief because he supported Yorinaga at the Hogen War in 1156.

He was also known for the development of Uchiyama Eikyu-ji Temple as the third chief priest of Kofuku-ji Temple Daijo-in, and was commonly called Uchiyama Daisojo (the highest-ranking Buddhist priest). In 1173, a year before his death, he was dismissed because he took the blame for a fire that occurred in Tonomine, and reportedly he went into retirement in Eikyu-ji Temple.

[Original Japanese]