Gijun Sugitani was ordained as the Chief Priest of Enju-in Temple of Tendai Buddhism in 1968. In 1972, he graduated from the Faculty of Law and completed all the required units of the PhD program in Advanced Literary Studies. In 1993 he was elected as the General Secretary of the Religious Juridical Persons Council. In 1999, he became the Secretary General of Religions for Peace Japan. In 2005, he was appointed as the Supreme Advisor to Tendai Buddhism, and in 2009 he became the Chair of the Board of Taisho University. In 2012, he was elected as the Chair of Religions for Peace, Japan.