Ryōchū 良忠 (Kenpō Ki-bi 建保己卯 — Kōan 10/7/6 → 1199-07-27 — 1287-07-06), the third patriarch (三祖) of the Chinzei 鎮西 line of Jōdoshū, posthumously titled Kishu Zenji 記主禪師 by Emperor Fushimi in 1293. Lay surname Fujiwara 藤原; native of Misumi-no-shō 三隅庄 in Naka-gun, Iwami 石見 province (modern Hamada-shi, Shimane). Also known as Nen’a 然阿 and Kōe Shōnin 香衣上人. Wikidata Q11614415. DILA Authority A000535.
Ordained in 1211 under Gesshu-bō Shinsen 月珠房信暹 at Gakuen-ji 鰐淵寺 in Izumo; received the precepts on Hieizan in 1214 and trained broadly in Tendai, Kusha, Hossō, Zen, and Vinaya. In 1236, at the age of 38, he entered the school of Ben’a Shōkō 辨阿聖光 (Benchō, the second patriarch of Chinzei) at Tenpuku-ji in Chikuzen, receiving full dharma-transmission in 1237. Subsequently active in Hitachi, Kazusa, and Shimōsa; from c. 1259 in Kamakura, where the patronage of Hōjō Tomonao 北條朝直 enabled him to found Gōshin-ji 悟眞寺 (later Kōmyō-ji 光明寺), which became the Chinzei head temple.
Principal works: Senchaku denkō ketsugishō 選擇傳弘決疑鈔 (commentary on Hōnen’s Senchakushū); Kangyō-sho dentsūki KR6f0081 觀經疏傳通記 in 15 fascicles (T2209, on Shàndǎo’s Guānjīng shū, begun 1257–58 and definitively revised 1274–75); Kettō ju-shuin gimonshō 決答授手印疑問鈔; Jōdo shūyōshū (Tōshūyō 東宗要). His six principal disciples founded the Kishu monka rokuryū 記主門下六流 — the Shirahata, Fujita, Nagoe, Sanjō, Ichijō, and Kowata sub-lines — with Ryōgyō’s Shirahata 白幡 stream becoming the mainstream of subsequent Chinzei Jōdoshū.