Hanazono University (花園大学, Hanazono Daigaku) is a private university in Kyoto, Japan that belongs to the Rinzai sect (specifically the Myōshin-ji temple complex, which it is next to). The university and the neighborhood are named for Emperor Hanazono, whose donated his palace to make Myōshin-ji.

It is a major competitor of the Sōtō college in Tokyo known as Komazawa University. Despite the university's sectarian affiliation, the school accepts Soto students.^[1] The school operates two research centers important in Zen academia, i.e. the Institute for Zen Studies and the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism.^[2] Founded in 1872 as a seminary for those interested in the priesthood, the university carries on that tradition while offering an education to those uninterested in becoming a priest. The university's president is Dr. Kosan Abe.^[3] Former presidents include Eshin Nishimura.

Since 1979, the Institute for Zen Studies has organised together with the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIMMID) the so-called East-West Spiritual Exchanges in which Buddhist and Christian monks or nuns take turns residing for one month in each other’s monasteries.^[4]