Saru Gallery
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Biography Seikô, Kawano 清晃 河野 (1906 - 2001)

Kawano Seikô was born in Fukuoka Prefecture on August 23 1906. At the age of eleven he enlisted in the Shingon sect. As a youth he was an avid mountaineer, mainly climbing in the Koyasan region. In 1940 he became superintendent priest of Daianji (temple) in Nara, but during WWII he was drafted to serve in the army. In 1956 he started the "Nara Japanese-German Association", with Daianji as its headquarters. He died on November 16 2001 at the ripe old age of 95. His death was announced in many Japanese papers and on TV.