The Rinzai school (臨済宗; Japanese: Rinzai-shū, Chinese: 临济宗 línjì zōng) is (with Sōtō and Ōbaku), one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.

Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan (Japanese: Rinzai Gigen). Though there were several attempts to establish Rinzai lines in Japan, it first took root in a lasting way through the efforts of the monk Myōan Eisai, following his return from China in 1191. Eisai is thus usually credited with the transmission of Rinzai to Japan. The school may be said to have truly flowered, and achieved a distinctly Japanese identity, with Shūhō Myōchō (Daitō Kokushi, 1283–1337) and Musō Soseki (1275–1351), influential Japanese Zen masters who did not travel to China to study.