Under Senkyo, master of the Hosso sect at Kofuku-ji Temple, Kenkei studied vijnapti-matrata or Consciousness-only school (aka Yuishiki or wei shih, i.e. a theory that all existence is subjective and nothing exists outside of the mind) and dharmalaksana or Dharma-character school (aka Hosso or faxiang, i.e. the specific characteristics of all manifest phenomena), and also practiced a kind of asceticism called kugo-rengyo, and in the new year of 743, as Shishu (Master) Kenkei of Kofuku-ji Temple he nominated Komaro, who was his relative, for becoming an ubasoku (aka upasaka, referring to a lay servant).
興福寺宣教に師事して唯識法相を学ぶ一方で苦業練行を重ね、天平15年（743年）正月に「師主元興寺賢璟」として同族の子麻呂を優婆塞に貢進推挙した。