Sobin Yamada was the 26th abbot of Shinju-an, a subtemple of the Rinzai Zen temple of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto. Shinju-an is the memorial temple for Ikkyu. Yamada studied at Hanazono, a Rinzai university in Kyoto, and at Ryukoku University. There is a calligraphic work by Yamada in the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco); it was commissioned by Yoshiko Kakudo for the museum. Yamada was born in 1920 and died in 2008.