Reverend Greg

Nichiren Ninja Buddhism

(This is something I wrote recently for two martial arts forums I participate in. Hope you enjoy. Perhaps a slightly less conventional look at the life of Nichiren?)

Obscure Ninja History

It’s fairly well-understood that “Shinobi” activity and the existence of actual Ninja clans and families flourished largely in the Sengaku era, the age of civil war. From the 1480’s to 1600, officially ending with the battle of Sekigahara, the country of Japan was in a constant state of civil warfare due to the destabilization of the Government. Warlords, or Daimyo battled each other for control of their lands, and the country as a whole.

It was during this time that the Ninja existed as “independent contractors” of a sort, and the largest chunk of Ninja history was written. Shinobi activity and history prior to this time in history is problematic in attempting to identify just WHO the Ninja were. Some say they were outcasts, others speculate moon-lighting Samurai or even Ronin (masterless Samurai). Historical references are scarce.

Interestingly there is a completely over-looked reference to Shinobi-type activity in a letter written by the 13th Century priest and scholar, Nichiren Daishonin.

For more information on Nichiren and his Buddhism;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichiren

One of Nichiren’s staunchest followers was a Samurai named Shijo Kingo. The following is excerpted from www.sgi-usa-study.org/ShijoKingo.doc.

“Shijo Kingo (c. 1230-1300)
A follower of Nichiren who lived in Kamakura, Japan. His full name and title were Shijo Nakatsukasa Saburo Saemon-no-joYorimoto. Kingo is an equivalent of the title Sae-mon-no-jo. His wife was Nichigen-nyo and they had two daughters, Tsukimaro and Kyo’o. As a samurai retainer, he served the Ema family, a branch of the ruling Hojo clan. Kingo was well versed in both medicine and the martial arts, and in temperament was straightforward, loyal, and passionate. He is said to have converted to Nichiren’s teachings around 1256, at about the same time as Kudo Yoshitaka and the brothers Ikegami Munenaka and Ikegami Munenaga. When Nichiren was taken to Tatsunokuchi to be beheaded in 1271, Shijo Kingo accompanied him, resolved to die by his side. After Nichiren was exiled to Sado Island, Shijo Kingo sent a messenger to him with various offerings. Through this messenger Nichiren entrusted Shijo Kingo with his treatise The Opening of the Eyes, which he had completed in the second month of 1272. A few months later, Kingo himself made the journey to Sado to visit Nichiren.”

The letter written by Nichiren to Shijo Kingo, entitled “The Three Kinds of Treasure”, is based on the following incidents;

“Sometime after Nichiren returned from Sado and moved to Minobu in 1274, Shijo Kingo tried to convert his lord, Ema, who was a believer of the Pure Land (Jodo) school and a follower of the priest Ryokan of Gokuraku-ji temple. Lord Ema did not take kindly to his retainer’s belief in the Lotus Sutra or support of Nichiren, whom Ryokan hated, and harassed him on that account. At one point, he ordered Kingo to abandon his faith in Nichiren’s teaching, threatening to transfer him to the remote province of Echigo if he did not obey. In 1277 Shijo Kingo happened to observe a debate at Kuwagayatsu in Kamakura in which Sammibo, a disciple of Nichiren, defeated Ryuzo-bo, a Tendai priest and a protégé of Ryokan. Fellow samurai jealous of Kingo saw a chance to disgrace him in the eyes of his lord and reported falsely to Lord Ema that Kingo had forcibly disrupted the debate. This led Lord Ema to threaten to confiscate Kingo’s fief.
Nichiren drafted a petition to Lord Ema on behalf of Shijo Kingo, which he sent to his loyal disciple. Before long, Lord Ema fell ill, and eventually had to ask Shijo Kingo for treatment. He recovered under Kingo’s care and thereafter placed renewed trust in him. In 1278 Kingo received from Ema an estate three times larger than his former one. When Nichiren became ill in his later years, Shijo Kingo attended to him at Minobu. Kingo also attended Nichiren on his deathbed and participated in his funeral. After Nichiren’s death, he lived in retirement at Utsubuna in Kai Province.”

The following excerpt is from this letter;

“Many people have plotted to undo you, but you have avoided their intrigues and emerged victorious. Should you lose your composure now and fall into their trap, you will be, as people say, like a boatman who rows his boat with all his might only to have it capsize just before he reaches the shore, or like a person who is served no hot water at the end of his meal.
While you are in your lord’s residence, if you stay in the room assigned to you, nothing will happen. But on your way to work at dawn or returning from it at dusk, your enemies are bound to be lying in wait for you. Also, be very careful in and around your house in case someone should be hiding beside the double doors, inside the family sanctuary, under the floor, or in the space above the ceiling. This time your foes will use even more cunning in their plots than before. In the end, no one will be more dependable in an emergency than the night watchmen of Egara in Kamakura. However disagreeable it may be to you, you should associate with them amicably.
The Three Kinds of Treasure, WND, 849-50
Written to Shijo Kingo on September 11, 1277 from Minobu”

Written in 1277, this letter is from an era with vague, if nearly nonexistent records validating the existence of Ninja. The actual word Ninja didn’t even exist. This is what makes Nichiren’s guidance to Shijo so interesting, from a historical ninpo perspective.

While during the Sengaku era, the “subjective Ninja” seems to have existed, that is to say those who’s profession was based on commando warfare and espionage, pre-Sengaku Ninja did NOT exist subjectively. Rather, Ninjutsu existed in a purely objective fashion. In short, “Ninja were as Ninja did”.

When Nichiren warns of enemies “hiding beside the double doors, inside the family sanctuary, under the floor, or in the space above the ceiling”, he is simply warning against those who have been sent to kill Shijo using Ninjutsu. Interestingly that a Priest would find himself in the position of giving tactical advise to a professional soldier, but not so much when you consider that hiding in ambush completely violates the then unwritten code of the Samurai, the code that would eventually become formalized as the Bushido Code. Shijo, being an honest and courageous Samurai may have never considered that someone would hide out and launch a sneak-attack. Such behavior would seem absolutely inconceivable and utterly despicable.

In light of this interestingly historical document, the “who” of the Shinobi is not something we, as modern practitioners, should be too proud of. The persons sent to kill Shijo would have been low-level Samurai, or even local criminals hired to do the task. And yet, for that time, they were “Ninja“.

Rev. Greg

Posted by revgreg at July 23, 2007 07:10 PM