Nakahara Nantenbo (1839-1925) was Deng Zengchu. He was a Rinzai Zen priest active during the Meiji and Taisho periods, and was born in Nagasaki Prefecture. His real name was Zenchu, his Chinese characters were Deng, and his other name was Baegai-gut. In his later years, he lived at Kaiseiji Temple in Nishinomiya. He was called “Nanten-bo” (a stick of Nanten) because he carried a stick of Nanten hewn in the mountains and beat practitioners mercilessly at Zen monasteries all over the country. He also devoted himself to teaching Zen practitioners, and is known to have influenced Tesshu Yamaoka, Kisuke Nogi, Gentaro Kodama, and others. He bequeathed many Zen paintings with designful and accessible Zen motifs.
