January 20, 2025
Nichiren Shonin and His Lay Followers（3）
By Rev. Kanji Tamura
Nichiren Shonin and Shijo Kingo Yorimoto (1)
Shijo Kingo (1245-1300, though some disagree) and Toki Jonin were probably the two most influential followers of Nichiren Shonin. Also called Nakatsukasa Saemonnojo, Yorimoto, as his father had been, was a retainer of the Ema (or Nagoe) family, a relative of the main branch of the Hojo clan, performing chiefly office work. Yorimoto held an imperial government post of Saemonnojo, which was known as Kingo according to the T’ang office system. Accordingly Yorimoto was also called Shijo Kingo. It is said that the Shijo family had been followers of the Hojos in Izu even before the Hojos rose against the Taira clan together with Minamoto Yoritomo, and therefore the fief of the Shijo family was located in Izu.
Shijo Kingo had been Nichiren’s follower even before Nichiren was exiled to Izu. As Nichiren had a thatch hut at the Nagoe Matsubagayatsu section of Kamakura to engage in propagation activities, it was probably in the neighborhood of the Ema (Nagoe) family residence, where Kingo worked. Thus it is believed that Nichiren and Kingo became acquainted during the early days of Nichiren’s propagation in Kamakura.
Kingo’s wife, who was named “Nichigen” by Nichiren Shonin, was two years older than Kingo and both were devoted followers of Nichiren. It is confirmed by an existing letter that Nichigen received guidance from Nichiren when she was in the unlucky age of 33. According to Nichiren’s letters, Yorimoto had no children, his fief was in two places, and he had three brothers (an elder and two younger). During the Persecution of Tatsunokuchi in the ninth month of the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271), as Nichiren himself writes, many disciples and lay followers of Nichiren, as many as 999 out of 1,000 of them, retreated, causing the Nichiren Order of Buddhism to be at the brink of extinction. Shijo Kingo also was about to be deprived of feudal territories and exiled only to be saved through the mediation of his lord, Ema Mitsutoki. When Nichiren was about to be beheaded at Tatsunokuchi, Kingo together with his three brothers rushed to Nichiren who was being led to the execution ground, begging to follow him in death. Later, Nichiren writes in his letter from Minobusan, “Indeed I do remember that when I was about to be beheaded you followed me holding the muzzle of my horse and cried in agony. How will I ever forget it in the future!” It seems that Kingo’s residence was then confiscated by the Kamakura military government.
Thus Shijo Kingo remained a faithful follower of Nichiren throughout his life. After escaping death at Tatsunokuchi, Nichiren then was exiled to Sado. In the second month of the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272), Nichiren, on the island of Sado, wrote the “Kaimoku-sho (Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching)” as a keepsake from himself and sent it, first of all, to Shijo Kingo. It explains that Kingo was recognized as a leader of the sangha by its founder. It also shows that Kingo was able to understand the teaching of Nichiren.
In the ninth month of the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272), Kingo sent a messenger carrying various articles of donation all the way to Sado requesting Nichiren to hold the third year memorial service for his late mother. Nichiren wrote a thank-you letter in return, stating first that the dissemination of Buddhism depends on the faith of the ruler of the country and explaining it with examples how the quality of the ruler influences the fate of a country. Nichiren continues to write in this letter that the country of those who slander the True Dharma will inevitably be destroyed and that Nichiren has encountered various difficulties as he tried to stop slandering the True Dharma.
Appreciating the various goods donated by Kingo for the third memorial service for his mother, Nichiren then praises him saying that the merit of giving a donation to a messenger of the Buddha who spreads the Lotus Sutra (e.g. Nichiren Shonin) is superior to supporting numerous Buddhas.
Nichiren further states that the Lotus Sutra is the supreme True Dharma attested to the truth by the “three Buddhas (Sakyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and Buddhas of Manifestation).” It is the “direct copy” in letters of Sakyamuni Buddha’s voice preaching the True Dharma. Therefore, the Lotus Sutra itself is the living Sakyamuni Buddha
Thus Nichiren told Kingo, “The characters of this sutra are equipped with the intent of the Buddha. For instance, the seed, seedling, and rice plant are different in appearance, but they are all equal in essence. The same is true with Sakyamuni Buddha and the letters of the Lotus Sutra; they look different but are the same in essence. Therefore, when you see the letters of the Lotus Sutra, you should consider meeting with the living Sakyamuni Buddha.” And Nichiren praised Shijo Kingo saying that it was the utmost expression of filial piety to hold a memorial service through this precious Lotus Sutra and that Sakyamuni Buddha would never fail to recognize Kingo’s deep kindness of sending offering all the way to the Province of Sado.
(Trans. K. H.) (to be continued)