Saichō (最澄^?, September 15, 767 – June 26, 822) was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school in Japan, based around the Chinese Tiantai tradition he was exposed to during his trip to China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan. After his death, he was awarded the posthumous title of Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師).

"Saichō was born into a family of devout Buddhists. At the age of twelve he went to study at the provincial temple in Omi. There he studied under Gyōhyō (722-797), a disciple of Tao-hsiian (702-760), the Chinese monk who had brought Northern School Ch'an, Kegon (Chin., Hua-yen) teachings, and the Fan wang precepts to Japan in 736. Saichō's studies of meditation and Kegon "one-vehicle" (Skt., ekayana; Jpn., ichijō) doctrines during this period influenced his lifelong doctrinal predilections. Shortly after he was ordained in 785, he decided to climb Mount Hiei. He remained there for approximately a decade to meditate and study. During his retreat, Saichō read about Chinese T'ien-t'ai meditation practice in Kegon texts and managed to obtain several T'ient'ai texts that had been brought to Japan by Chien-chen (Ganjin, 688-763) in 754 but had subsequently been ignored by Japanese monks."