Musō Soseki
Over time, the temple fell into disrepair, and in 1339, the chief priest of the nearby Matsunoo Shrine, Fujiwara Chikahide, summoned the famous Japanese gardener Musō Soseki to help him revive Saihō-ji as a Zen temple. At this time, Musō decided to change the temple's name, to reflect its new Zen orientation. The temple became , the name being selected not only because it was a homophone of the original name, but also because the kanji were used in phrases related to Bodhidharma: and . Saihō-ji was destroyed by fire during the Ōnin War, and twice ravaged by floods during the Edo period, but has since been rebuilt.