Inoue Enryō

Inoue Enryō
Born(1858-03-18)March 18, 1858
DiedJune 6, 1919(1919-06-06) (aged 61)
Other names井上 圓了
Occupation(s)philosopher and educator

Inoue Enryō (井上 円了, March 18, 1858 – June 6, 1919) was a Japanese philosopher, Shin Buddhist priest and reformer, educator, and royalist. A key figure in the reception of Western philosophy, the emergence of modern Buddhism, and the permeation of the imperial ideology during the second half of the Meiji Era. He is the founder of Toyo University and the creator of Tetsugaku-dō Park 哲学堂公園 (Temple Garden of Philosophy) in Tokyo. Because he studied all kinds of mysterious phenomena and apparitions (妖怪, yōkai) in order to debunk superstitions, he is sometimes called "Professor Specter" (妖怪博士, Yōkai Hakase) and the "Spook Doctor" (お化け博士, Obake Hakase).