Doshin So , (1911–1980) was a Japanese soldier and martial artist. He is most known as the creator and founder of Shorinji Kempo and the doctrine Kongo Zen . Practitioners of Shorinji Kempo refer to him as Kaiso, Japanese for "the founder".
Doshin So
Sō while teaching.
Doshin So (left) instructs Sonny Chiba (right) in the martial arts film Shorinji Kempo (1975)
Shorinji Kempo is a Japanese martial art claimed to be a modified version of Shaolin kung fu. The name Shōrinji Kempo is the Japanese reading of Shàolínsì Quánfǎ. It was established in 1947 by Doshin So [born Michiomi Nakano ], a Japanese martial artist and former military intelligence agent who lived in China for many years before and during World War II.
The mural painting in the Shaolin Monastery in which Doshin So took heavy influence from
Bodhidharma (Daruma) - Patriarch of Zen