page_title: Nikkō Shōnin
section_title: Isolation from other disciples
hierarchical_section_title: Nikkō Shōnin / Isolation from other disciples
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 南部六郎実長像　身延山開基堂安置　身延町指定文化財
context_page_description: Nikkō Shōnin, Buddhist name Hawaki-bō Byakuren Ajari Nikkō, was one of the six senior disciples of Nichiren and was the former chief priest of Kuon-ji temple in Mount Minobu, Japan. Various Nichiren-related sects based in Japan claim to have been founded by Nikko, including Nichiren Shōshū and some lineages within Nichiren Shu.
  Various Nichiren Buddhist schools recognize that Nikkō kept meticulous scholarly records during his lifetime, along with keeping a highly organized religious practice, and is responsible for much of the records that survive today. Nikkō singularly upheld the doctrine that Nichiren was the True and Eternal Buddha in the Latter Day of the Law and therefore is considered by schools stemming from Nikkō such Nichiren Shōshū and the Soka Gakkai, the sole legitimate successor to the ministry and legacy of Nichiren. Other schools reject the claim that he is the chosen disciple among the six senior disciples of Nichiren.
  Nikko established the Head Temple Taisekiji at Fujinomiya in 1290, as well as enshrining the Dai Gohonzon image. In 1332, four months before his death, he designated Nichimoku Shonin as his successor.
context_section_description: Latter feelings of animosity and discord grew after the second death anniversary of Nichiren's 100th Day Memorial ceremony (23 January 1283) when, according to Nikko, the rotation system agreed in the "Shuso Gosenge
  Kiroku" (English: Record document of founder's demise) and Rembo Cho (English: Rotation Wheel System) to clean and maintain Nichiren's grave, was being abandoned by the other five senior disciples.
  By the third  anniversary of Nichiren's death (13 October 1284),  Nikkō claimed that the other five senior priests no longer returned to Nichiren's tomb in Mount Minobu, citing the deer hoofs and other signs of neglect at the gravesite. In addition, Nikkō accused that after Nichiren's death, the other disciples slowly began to deviate from Nichiren's teachings.
  Chief among these complaints was the syncretism by some of the disciples to worship images of both Shakyamuni Buddha while admonishing other disciple priests for signing their names "Tendai Shamon" of the Tendai Buddhist school in the subsequent documents notarized and sent to the Kamakura government. Furthermore, Nikko alleged that the other disciples became condescending towards some of Nichiren's writings because they were not written in Classical Chinese, but in the katakana syllabary, which was deemed inferior at the time.
  The steward of the temple district, Hagiri Sanenaga, who had been converted by Nikkō, also began to commit unorthodox practices which Nikkō deemed to be heretical, such as the following:
  The crafting of a standing statue of Shakyamuni Buddha as an object of worship.
  The donation of noren shrine curtains and horses to the Mishima Taisha Shinto shrine, at the time an honorary shrine of the Hōjō-clan shogunate.
  The procurement of bamboo lumber for the Shinto Gassan Shrine.
  The attendance of a memorial service dedicated to the stupa of Amida Buddha along with giving monetary donations to its Nembutsu priests in Fukushi ward, Nanbu, Yamanashi Prefecture.
  These controversial acts received tolerance from another senior disciple, Mimbu Nikō (民部日向, 1253–1314) to be acceptable due to having been done ordinarily with the knowledge of Nichiren while he was alive. Accordingly, Hagiri Sanenaga provided his own personal reason that it was customary for his political family to make homage to the Shinto shrine of the Kamakura Shogunate, as well as reasoning that he had provided monetary donations to other Buddhist sects even when Nichiren himself was alive.
  Such developments eventually led Nikkō to conclude that Nichiren's enlightened entity no longer resided and continue at Mount Minobu. Furthermore, he felt that  Kuon-ji was not the place for perpetuating Nichiren's teachings, causing him to pack up his belongings, and allegedly some relics belonging to Nichiren, to depart, never to return. Nikkō left Mount Minobu with a group of select disciples in the spring of 1289. Nanjo Shichijo-jiro Tokimitsu, a lay believer residing near Mount Fuji offered them sanctuary to stay, later donating a tract of land for a new temple that became Taiseki-ji Temple. Taiseki-ji is today the head temple of the Nichiren Shōshū school and, since its founding on 12 October 1290, has been a major center of the Kōmon-ha (興門派, also called the 富士派: Fuji-ha) branch of Nichiren Buddhism, as the schools stemming from Nikkō were traditionally known.
  Upon nearing death on 10 November 1332, Nikkō named his disciple Nichimoku (1260–1333) as his successor and passed onto him the Ozagawari Gohonzon, inscribed in 8 April 1308 for the memorial honor of the martyr “Jinshiro”, approximately 14 years after the persecution of Hei No Saimon Yoritsuna. This mandala is now enshrined inside the Dai-Kyakuden, along with his Juzu beads made of Crystal and Shimamenu Onyx which are now preserved in the Gohozo building of Taisekiji.
  For the remaining 36 years of his life, Nikkō then retired a few miles away to Omosu, Suruga Province where he founded a seminary and temple, Ikegami Honmon-ji belonging to Nichiren-shū sect, and concentrated on training disciples until his death in the second lunar month
caption: An image of Hagiri Sanenaga, patron of Shinto, enshrined at Minenyama Kuonji temple.
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