Birth and Entrance into the Priesthood

Nichiren Daishonin’s Birth

Nichiren Daishonin was born on the sixteenth day of the second month of 1222 (the first year of the Jo’o Period), in the fishing village of Kominato in Tojo, located in the Nagasa District of Awa Province. Today, that area is Chiba Prefecture. His father Mikuni-no-Taiyu Shigetada and mother Umegiku-nyo named him Zennichi-maro at birth.

The Daishonin discusses his birth in several writings. In “Letter from Sado,” he states: “So, too, it is with Nichiren, who in this life was born poor and lowly to a chandala family.” (Gosho, p. 580; MW-1, p. 37) In a work entitled “The Learned Doctor Shan-wu-wei,” the Daishonin writes: “I, Nichiren, am the son of a humble family, born along the shore in Kataumi of Tojo Village in the province of Awa.…” (Gosho, p. 438; MW-4, p. 62) According to the social structure at that time, Nichiren Daishonin was born into the lowest level of society, reserved for those whose work related to blood or the killing of animals. This is significant from a Buddhist viewpoint in that the Daishonin was born as an ordinary man to relieve the anguish of people suffering from ignorance and degradation in the Latter Day of the Law.

During the Jokyu Disturbance in 1221, Hojo Yoshitoki thwarted an attempt by imperial forces to overthrow the Kamakura Bakufu, and made the unprecedented decision to exile Emperors Gotoba, Tsuchimikado and Juntoku. This inversion of the old order, together with other extraordinary events, reflected an evil age filled with the Five Impurities.

A Vow – Entering the Priesthood

Catastrophes were common when Zennichi-maro was growing up. Typhoons, droughts and other natural disasters caused massive crop failures. The mood of the nation was grim, and the generally astute Zennichi-maro began to wonder what evil had caused the Jokyu Incident and so many other horrors. In 1233, out of a need to find a solution to society’s chaos, the twelve-year-old Zennichi-maro vowed to become the foremost sage in Japan through education, and toward that end, became a novitiate under Dozen-bo, the chief priest of a Buddhist temple near Awa called Seichoji. Zennichi-maro received a formal education there, but his main interest was the reading and writing of Buddhist scripture, which he studied under two senior disciples, Joken-bo and Gijo-bo. In time, Zennichi-maro deepened his understanding through innate intelligence and an unquenchable thirst for the truth.

His education at Seichoji helped Zennichi-maro clearly identify in his own mind the various points of confusion that had bothered him since before his entrance into the priesthood.

First, during the Jokyu Incident, the imperial court had ordered high-ranking priests from the Tendai, Shingon and other sects, who had professed the ability to subdue enemies and protect the nation, to pray until the very last moment for the defeat of the emperor’s adversaries. Nonetheless, the imperial forces were crushed and three emperors were exiled. Zennichi-maro wanted to know why.

Second, Zennichi-maro had witnessed the final moments of a Nembutsu believer from the Awa region, who appeared to die in great agony and whose face took on an evil cast in death. Again, Zennichi-maro wanted to know why.

Third, while each of the established Buddhist sects were founded on a particular set of doctrines expounded by Shakyamuni, and each sect claimed supremacy, Zennichi-maro felt that Shakyamuni must have had only one true message.

Taking the Tonsure and Study Research throughout Japan

At the age of sixteen, Zennichi-maro formally took the tonsure, both to resolve the aforementioned issues, and to master the essence of Buddhism. He changed his name to Zesho-bo Rencho and maintained an assiduous daily study regimen without regard for day or night.

By the spring of his second year at this pace, Rencho had read every scroll of every sutra and commentary at Seichoji, but because that had only fueled his desire to deepen his understanding, he set out on a tour of the provinces to continue his research.

Years later, the Daishonin wrote about his travels in a letter entitled, “Reply to Myoho Bikuni”: “I went to Kamakura, Kyoto, Mt. Hiei, Onjoji, Mt. Koya, Tennoji and elsewhere, studying at temple after temple in province after province.” (Gosho, p. 1258) The Daishonin scoured the Buddhist scriptures in the archives of every temple he could find in Kamakura, Japan’s political and economic center; at Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei, arguably the center of the Buddhist world at that time; and at other historically significant temples throughout the provinces. The entire journey took the Daishonin fourteen years.

The Daishonin came to several crucial conclusions as a result of his long research. His first realization was that all of the established sects deny Shakyamuni’s true doctrine, and that this denial was at the root of all of Japan’s misery. His second realization was that the five characters of the Mystic Law, which embody the heart of the Lotus Sutra, comprise the Buddhism best suited to the Latter Day of the Law. He also clearly realized that he himself was the reincarnation of Bodhisattva Jogyo, the person meant to relieve the suffering masses of the evil Latter Day by disseminating that essential Law.