Soto Zen Mission of San Francisco - Sokoji

The Soto Zen Mission of San Francisco stands out for its curved, tiled roofline and the unassuming wooden facade that blends into the neighborhood of Japantown. Originally a storefront, this building became the first home for the San Francisco Zen Center in nineteen sixty-one. Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese monk who arrived in the city to lead the mission, spent his afternoons here teaching meditation to an eclectic group of local seekers. His presence transformed this quiet temple into a fountainhead for American Zen.