Tendai is a historical school of Japanese Buddhism, founded in Japan by Saicho after traveling and studying in China in the late 8th century. Mount Hiei and the Enryakuji monastery became important centers of teaching and practice for this tradition.

The Lotus Sutra is central to Tendai thought, and the school incorporates a set of Buddhist studies, meditations, and rituals into its curriculum. Several teachers who later founded separate traditions in Japan received their initial training in Tendai; this historical connection does not mean that later independent schools were identical.