This paper gives a brief introduction to the Seimogenic Zone Experiment (SEIZE) and Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE). As one of major initiatives of the NSF-MARGINS Program and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), SEIZE focuses its research on major subduction seismogenic belts in the world. The main study areas of SEIZE include: (1)physical nature of asperity; (2)temporal relationships among stress, strain, and pore fluid pressure throughout the earthquake cycle; (3)controls on the updip and downdip limits of the seismogenic zone of subduction thrusts; (4)nature of tsunamigenic earthquake zones; (5)role of large thrust earthquake in mass flux. As the first riser drilling proposal, NanTroSEIZE was highly ranked. It is also the first complex drilling proposal in the history of scientific ocean drilling program. Drilling through the seismogenic zone based on this complex drilling proposal will provide evidences to validate many hypotheses of the seismogenic zone.