Nichiji (日持; February 10, 1250 – after 1304), also known as Kaikō, was a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

disciple of

Nichiren Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of B ...

who traveled to

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Nichiji was born in

Suruga Province was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and was bordered by the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay to the south. Its abbrevia ...

, the second child of a large and powerful family. At first he studied to become a

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

priest but soon he joined Nichiren as one of his initial followers. Nichiji was one of the "six chosen disciples" of Nichiren, but was also a disciple of

Nikkō is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,239 in 36,531 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a popular destination for Japanese and ...

. After Nichiren died in 1282, Nichiji established Eishō-ji, now Ren'ei-ji ( 蓮永寺) in

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

. But soon, relations with Nikkō became strained. He set out on a missionary journey on January 1, 1295. His plan was to walk to

Hakodate, Hokkaidō is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households ...

and from there proceed to Xanadu in order to convert the Mongols.Joshua A. Fogel
''The literature of travel in the Japanese rediscovery of China, 1862-1945''
. Stanford University Press, 1996. p. 29. For many centuries it was unknown what happened to Nichiji after he left Japan. According to legend, he founded a temple in northern Japan and caught a new fish in Hokkaido that he named '' hokke'', after the ; even in legends it was unclear if he ever reached China alive. In 1936, though, a Japanese tourist discovered his

gohonzon is a generic term for a venerated religious object in Japanese Buddhism. It may take the form of a scroll or statuary. The term typically refers to the mainstream use of venerated objects within Nichiren Buddhism, referring to the calligr ...

and relics in a remote region of China, and in 1989 these relics were carbon dated and determined by Tokyo University researchers to be most probably authentic. Thanks to his inscriptions on the relics, it is now known that he landed in China in 1298, met some

Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia (), officially the Great Xia (), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as ''Mi-nyak''Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts and Tibetans, was a Tangut-led Buddhist imperial dynasty of China tha ...

Buddhists on the road and decided on their advice to settle in

Xuanhua District Xuanhua is an urban district of Zhangjiakou in northwestern Hebei Province, China. Xuanhua is a very old city with a rich military and agricultural history. Xuanhua was historically the "Gateway to Beijing", which lies to its southeast. As a c ...

instead of Xanadu. In Xuanhua, he founded Lìhuà Temple (立化寺塔; Japanese: Rikka-ji)., and a few Chinese residents converted to

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of ...

under his tutelage, including an old man named Nishote whom he mentions as his chief disciple. He died sometime after 1304. In

Nichiren Shū Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of ...

Nichiji is regarded as a patron saint of foreign missionaries.The Six Major Disciples of Nichiren
/ref>

References

External links

Treasures of Senka
- documentary in English *

. Nichiren Buddhism Modern Religious Institute.

"Modern Japanese Buddhism and Pan-Asianism"
{{Authority control 1250 births 1300s deaths Japanese Buddhist clergy Nichiren-shū Buddhist monks Kamakura period Buddhist clergy

References

Further reading

External links