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Of the six senior disciples
designated by the Daishonin, all except Nikko Shonin betrayed
their teacher’s will, thereby nearly destroying
his teaching. On October 8, 1282, five days before his
death, the Daishonin designated Nissho, Nichiro, Nikko,
Niko, Nitcho and Nichiji as “main disciples”
but noted that “the order of listing is irrelevant”
(The Collected Essential Writings of the Fuji School,
vol.8, pp.2-3). The order of the Daishonin’s designation
indicates the order of conversion, not the order of seniority.
These “main disciples” were later called “the
six senior priests.” The Daishonin designated the
six senior priests under the leadership of Nikko Shonin
to protect and spread his teachings after his death. While
designating Nikko Shonin as chief priest of Kuon temple
at Minobu, the Daishonin also intended the other five
senior priests to continue to take leadership in their
assigned areas for the further propagation of the Law.
As Nichiko Hori later wrote, the Daishonin “asked
them to become leaders for believers scattered in various
areas and exert themselves in propagation, thus accomplishing
the great desire of kosen-rufu.”
On October 13,1282, the Daishonin died at the estate of
Ikegami Munenaka. His body was cremated, and Nikko Shonin
brought the ashes back to Minobu for burial. At the end
of January 1283, after having conducted a memorial service
for the hundred-day anniversary of the Daishonin’s
passing, Nikko Shonin consulted other disciples and instituted
a vigil for their teacher’s grave at Minobu. Eighteen
leading disciples were selected to take turns attending
the grave by making offerings and prayers.
Each of the six senior priests and two of the rest were
to stay at Mount Minobu for one month at a time and protect
the Daishonin’s gravesite. Of the eighteen priests,
nine (Nichii, Nippo, Echizen-ko, Nitchi, Nichiji, Nichimoku,
Nisshu, Nichiben and Nikke) had entered the priesthood
under the guardianship and guidance of Nikko Shonin, demonstrating
his outstanding leadership.
When the disciples eventually returned to their respective
areas, Nissho took with him an annotated copy of the Lotus
Sutra, which the Daishonin had instructed to keep by his
tomb. And Nichiro took a statue of Shakyamuni, which the
Daishonin had received as a gift from the steward of Ito
when he was exiled to Izu and had since kept by his side.
The Daishonin had also willed this statue to be kept by
his tomb.Nissho and Nichiro never returned to Minobu as
long as Nikko Shonin remained there, completely neglecting
the vigil over their teacher’s grave.
In his “Reply to Mimasaka-bo,” Nikko Shonin
explains his circumstances: “[The five senior priests]
seem to have abandoned the grave [of the Daishonin]. Though
they propounded a teaching not to discard one’s
teacher, they have already abandoned their own. It cannot
be helped that they may be subjected to criticism in the
secular world” (Hennentai Nichiren Daishonin Gosho,
p. 1279).
When Nikko Shonin became chief priest of Kuon temple,
Hakiri Sanenaga, the steward of Minobu, rejoiced: “I
am pleased as if the late sage had come back once again”
(Detailed Accounts of Nikko Shonin of the Fuji School,
p.164). But after Niko was designated as head of the seminary
at Minobu in 1285, Hakiri gradually came under his influence.
Niko would not hesitate to bend the Daishonin’s
Buddhism to curry favor with Hakiri, which eventually
led to slanderous acts.
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