 In 1957, Soen Roshi asked Shimano to go to America for one year to attend the elderly Nyogen Senzaki.He agreed, but Nyogen died in 1958 before Shimano had a chance to go.Soen asked Shimano to go to Hawaii instead to help to guide the Diamond Sangha, founded by Robert Baker Aitken and his wife, Anne Hopkins Aitken.