Shunmyo Masuno is the head priest of Kenkohji, a Soto Zen Buddhist temple in Yokohama, as well as the principal and founder of Japan Landscape Consultants. He is a graduate of Tamagawa University and served his garden apprenticeship under the late Saito Katsuo, He founded Japan Landscape Consultants in 1982 and has received numerous awards for his landscape and garden designs, including the prestigious National Grand Prize from the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture. He is a professor at Tama Art University and teaches and lectures internationally. Masuno is the author of more than 100 books on the practice and teachings of Zen Buddhism, as well as garden design and landscape architecture.