Before proceeding to the translations themselves, a word or two about the historical and cultural background of the period in which Nichiren Daishonin lived may be helpful. In addition, we have included a brief biography of the Daishonin and a summary of his thought, and we conclude with a general description of his writings. We have also provided a glossary and other explanatory material at the back of the book. Furthermore, a short essay and supplementary notes concerning background and content follow each translation.
Historical Background. Thirteenth- century Japan was ruled by a warrior government whose headquarters was in Kamakura, a seacoast city southwest of present- day Tokyo. The Kamakura shogunate, as the government is commonly known, lasted from 1. Kamakura period. The Kamakura shogunate, a government organization created and wholly dominated by members of the warrior class, represented a new phenomenon in Japanese history. In the earliest period of Japanese history, if traditional accounts are to be trusted, the emperors exercised military power in person when the occasion demanded. But in the succeeding centuries the duties of the emperor became increasingly confined to religious and ceremonial functions.
An elaborate central and provincial bureaucracy modeled after that of China carried out the administration of the affairs of the land, and a conscript army kept order and guarded the frontiers. At the end of the eighth century, the emperor bestowed the title of Seii- taish. The title, abbreviated to .
But at this time there was as yet nothing like a distinct warrior class or profession. During the long centuries of the Heian period (7.
The court aristocrats, who headed the Chinese- style bureaucracy mentioned earlier, tended increasingly to pursue artistic and cultural interests in the capital and to neglect the actual administration of government affairs, particularly in the outlying provinces. As a result, a new class of farmer- warriors emerged, who were commonly referred to as samurai. By reclaiming or opening up new lands for cultivation in the remoter regions, they succeeded in creating small estates for themselves. To avoid taxation from the central government, their lands were nominally entrusted to powerful aristocratic families or Buddhist temples, but in effect these constituted private holdings protected by the military prowess of individual samurai. To strengthen their position, the samurai rapidly grouped together or placed themselves in the service of one of the more powerful local clans.
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Soon they came to constitute a new class of professional warriors, leaving the actual cultivation of their estates to the peasants under their direction and concentrating on the improvement of the military arts and on the ideals of fortitude and daring that supported them. At first these powerful provincial clans were content for the most part to remain aloof from affairs in the capital. There, the imperial institution had come under the absolute domination of the great courtier family known as the Fujiwara. The Fujiwara monopolized the highest offices, married their daughters to the emperors, and, placing child rulers on the throne, managed affairs in their name. As a consequence, most Japanese emperors at this time reigned for only a brief time, after which they were obliged to yield the throne to an infant heir and retire to a life of relative seclusion.
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In such a complex political situation, in which one or more retired emperors lived contemporaneously with a reigning emperor, and various branches of the Fujiwara family vied for supremacy, power clashes were inevitable. When these occurred, the rivals not surprisingly attempted to bolster their position by seeking support from the warrior clans of the provinces, some of whom were related to the court aristocracy. Thus the warriors came to play a part in the affairs of the court and the capital, at first only infrequently, but later with increasing regularity. The branches of the Fujiwara family living in northeastern Japan were among the first to take up such a role. In time they were overshadowed by two other warrior clans, the Minamoto, or Genji, whose holdings were centered in the Kanto region of eastern Japan, and the Taira, or Heike, who had their base of power in the Inland Sea region. Eventually, the leader of the Taira clan, Taira no Kiyomori (1.
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He proceeded to install himself in the highest government position, and for the first time in history, reigning and retired emperors and Fujiwara lords alike all found themselves at the mercy of a military leader and his followers. The Taira, however, proved to be no real enemies to the aristocracy, instead taking enthusiastically to the ways of the capital. Before long, they had abandoned their warrior manners and ideals, and become indistinguishable from the courtier class.
But they had shown to others the way to power, and with the death of Kiyomori in 1. Minamoto family of the east. The Taira were forced to abandon Kyoto and flee west, and suffered a final crushing defeat in 1. Dannoura. Minamoto no Yoritomo (1.
Instead, he established his military government in Kamakura, where it would be safely removed from the influence of the court and its debilitating ways. He made no attempt to dismantle the government machinery already in existence in Kyoto.
On the contrary, he deliberately sought acknowledgment of his actions from the emperor and the court, and in 1. It soon became evident, however, that the administrative functions previously carried out by the court would in the future be increasingly taken over by warrior families under the direction of the Kamakura shogunate.
In 1. 18. 5, Minamoto no Yoritomo appointed shugo, or constables, to keep order in the various provinces, and jit. Yoritomo had been assisted in his rise to power by his wife.
When Yoritomo died in 1. Yoriie. But actual power was wielded by Yoriie. For the remainder of the Kamakura period, the position of shogun was occupied by an infant or child chosen at first from the Fujiwara family and later from the imperial family. All real authority was exercised by the members of the H. The supremacy of the H. In 1. 22. 1 the Retired Emperor Gotoba, along with two other retired emperors, attempted to break free of the shogunate.
But though orders were sent out to the provinces to levy troops and raise support for the imperial cause, the number of warriors that responded was pitifully small. The imperial forces were easily defeated, and the Kamakura government deposed the reigning emperor and exiled the retired emperors to distant islands. This incident is known as the J.
To ensure that nothing like it would occur again, the H. The second serious threat to H.
In the past, mainly because of the distance that separated Japan from the continent, the country had seldom had to fear the grim possibility of invasion. But in the thirteenth century a new and ruthless race of conquerors, the Mongols, became active in Asia. In addition to their victories in Central Asia and Europe, they overran northern China and Korea, and were in the process of subjugating southern China as well when Japan engaged their attention. In 1. 26. 8 the Mongol ruler Khubilai Khan sent the first of a succession of envoys to Japan to demand that it acknowledge fealty to him. In 1. 27. 4 a Mongol force arrived in the waters off southern Japan to punish the Japanese for their recalcitrance.
They overran several small islands and made a landing in Kyushu, but with the onslaught of a severe storm, soon withdrew. The leaders in Kamakura, knowing well that they had not seen the end of the matter, began hurriedly constructing walls and taking other precautions to guard against a second invasion. The Mongols appeared once again in 1.
Chinese and Korean vessels. Again the Japanese put up a fierce resistance, though they suffered terrible losses. Before the Mongols could move the bulk of their forces into action, however, a great storm struck the area, sinking or crippling the ships of the invaders and bringing their expedition to a disastrous conclusion. Although the Mongols contemplated yet another invasion attempt, they eventually abandoned their ambitions and in 1. Japan. But the losses suffered by the Japanese warriors in the conflict had seriously weakened the confidence they placed in the Kamakura shogunate. At the same time, the heavy cost of the defense measures threatened the government.
Both these factors hastened the process of the Kamakura shogunate. In the early years of the fourteenth century, a strong- willed emperor named Godaigo came to the throne.
Resolved to rule alone and to rid himself of the dominance of the H. His efforts eventually proved successful in 1. Kyoto and Kamakura, and put an end to H.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese written language for use in keeping government records and writing works of history and philosophy, and utilized the Chinese characters to devise a writing system for their own language. They also, as was noted earlier, introduced much of the Chinese bureaucratic system, setting up a centralized system of government under the supreme authority of the emperor. In such fields as philosophy, art, architecture, medicine, and engineering, the Japanese likewise borrowed heavily from the continent.
About the middle of the sixth century, according to traditional accounts, Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Korea. At first it met with sharp resistance from supporters of the native Shinto faith, but in time gained a foothold among the upper classes. Soon the government was taking an active role in encouraging the new religion, founding temples, welcoming priests from abroad, and sending Japanese priests to the mainland for study. The great city of Nara, capital of the nation from 7.
Buddha Vairochana that was erected by the government in 7.