Robin Beck

The nickname of this mandala is 玄旨伝法本尊. That means something like "The Secret Will Dharma Transmission (Denpo) Honzon."

The conferral reads: 経一丸 {Kyoichi Maru} 之 {[received] this}. That is the child hood name of Nichiro Shonin's younger half brother Nichizo Shonin (1269-1342). The date is December of 1275, so Kyoichi was about 7 years old. This was the year Nichizo became Nichiro's disciple.

According to tradition, on October 11 1282, the then thirteen year old Kyoichi Maru was summoned to Nichiren's bed at Ikegami Honmonji. Nichiren Shonin, who would die two days later, assigned the boy the mission to propagate the Hokke Shu in the Imperial Capital of Kyoto and the western region of Japan.

In November of 1293. Nichizo began a prayer vigil at Yui Beach near Kamakura to accomplish his mission. Each night, for 100 days, until February of 1294, he chanted the verse portion of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra 100 times.

In April of the same year, Nichizo arrived in Kyoto. While there, in order to make Hokke Shu more acceptable to the residents, Nichizo apparently founded a form of Hokke Shinto called Sanju Banshin. Evidently, the veneration of these 30 benevolent divinities, who appear, each in turn, for 30 days, to protect the votaries of the Lotus Sutra, was already popular in Kyoto, as part of Sanno (Ichijitsu or Tendai). Shinto, Legends hold that Nichiren Shonin himself founded the practice of Hokke Shinto Sanju Banshin, st Miidera, in 1246, but that is likely back fill. By the way, the origin of the Sanno Shinto form of Sanju Banshin is attributed by legend to Saicho.

Nichizo stern opposition from the monks of Tendai Shu, who arranged for his exile three different times, in 1310, 1317, and 1321. After his return in 1321, Nichizo received permission from Emperor Godaigo to found Myokenji Temple. In 1334, Myokenji was recognized by Godaigo as as an Imperial Prayer Temple. This marked the recognition of the [Nichiren] Hokke Shu as an independent School separate from Tendai Shu.