Il était un disciple de Dainichi Nōnin dans l’école Daruma, et maître de Kakuzen Ekan, qui devint un disciple de Dōgen.
Traditional Sōtō histories mention Butchibō Kakuan 佛地房覺晏 as the first Zen teacher of Koun Ejō, the successor of Dōgen.283 Biographies of Ejō note that Kakuan was Nōnin’s foremost student and dharma heir. Kakuan is repeatedly referred to as “Higashiyama Kakuan” 東山覺晏, indicating that he dwelled and taught in the Eastern Hills area of Kyoto (Higashiyama)