He got Buddhism training in the Hase-dera Temple, the grand head temple of the Buzan school of the Shingon sect in Nara, and then took over as the 28th chief priest of the Kannon-ji Temple after Koya died in 1832.
奈良の真言宗豊山派総本山の長谷寺にて仏道修行を行うが、1832年、康哉の没後に観音寺の第28代住職を引き継ぐ。