Ven. Gijun Sugitani graduated from the faculty of law, and in 1972 he completed all the required units of PhD program in advanced literary studies. In 1968, he was ordained as the Chief Priest of Enju-in Temple of the Tendai Buddhist Denomination. A year after he was elected as the General Secretary in 1993, he became the member of Religious Juridical Persons Council. Then in 1999, he became the Secretary General of Religions for Peace Japan. In 2005, he was appointed as the Supreme Advisor to Tendai Buddhist Denomination and in 2009 as the Chair of the Board of Taisho University. In 2012, he was elected as the Chair of Religions for Peace Japan.