Among Japanese religious leaders, the Buddhist monk Nichiren (1222–1282), regarded as the founder of the Hokkeshū (Lotus sect, now called Nichirenshū), has the most extensive corpus of biographies and other treatments of his life story as the subject for literary, visual and performing arts works, both inside and outside denominational tradition. Despite the wealth of research on the characteristics of Nichiren biographies from different periods, there are few studies that examine the formation process of the image of Nichiren from a general historical perspective. This paper employs a multifaceted analysis of a wide range of sources, including textual, visual, and material, from a diachronic perspective, in order to provide a detailed examination of the formation process of Nichiren’s imagery, with a particular focus on the following distinguishing characteristics, as well as its continuity and innovation in the early modern and modern periods.
Following Nichiren’s demise, the formation of his image exhibited numerous characteristics, the first of which is that within the early Hokkeshū, wooden statues rather than pictorial images constituted the basis of the image of Nichiren as the denominational founder. This is attributable to the fact that the modelling of Nichiren commenced as portrait sculptures, and the early deification of him was profoundly influenced by the prevailing belief and veneration of the Buddhist statues as the manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, who came in this world for salvation (shōjin shinkō) that was pervasive in the Middle Ages. This religious practice, facilitated by wooden statues, is characterized by an elevated level of reverence for Nichiren himself. The sanctification of wooden statues, which commenced in the early stages, ultimately gave rise to an inclination towards this-worldly benefits in Nichiren Buddhist tradition. During the Edo period (1603–1868), the travelling display (kaichō) of images and other sacred objects held by noted Hokkeshū temples became popular and most of the objects that were displayed were Nichiren wooden statues. The abbreviated temple and shrine pamphlets (engi) produced at that time contain miraculous stories, in which the statues are said to have received Nichiren’s spirit and manifested mysterious powers on his behalf, thus depicting him as a wonderworker.
The relatively late establishment of pictorial tradition and the writing of detailed biographies constitutes the second defining characteristic in the formation of Nichiren’s image. Despite the composition of pictorial biographies (eden) of Hōnen, Shinran, Ippen and other founders by the end of the Kamakura period, the first pictorial biography of Nichiren was Nichiren Shōnin Chūgasan (Illustrated Account of Nichiren Shōnin) by Nitchō (1441–1510), which was established over two centuries after Nichiren’s demise. Nichiren Shōnin Chūgasan served as the basis for many subsequent retellings and has become the most popular biography of Nichiren in the early modern period, especially after its first publication in woodblock in 1601.
The composition of detailed Nichiren biographies in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was facilitated by significant advancements in the field of compiling of Nichiren’s writings (ibun), a crucial aspect in the subsequent formation of his image. Nichiren is noteworthy for a significant body of manuscripts he produced and stands out as Japan’s medieval figure with a notable abundance of surviving material, a large amount of which is in his own handwriting, containing passages where he mentions some facts about his life. This enables the compilation of his comprehensive biography from a first-person perspective. As previous studies have demonstrated, Nichiren’s own dramatic narrative has contributed to his mythologization, the third defining characteristic in the formation of his image. The mythologization began not with later generations but with Nichiren himself.
This brings us to the last defining characteristic to be discussed in this paper: the profound connection between Nichiren biography and the performing arts in the early modern period (1603–1868). A flourishing print culture and the expansion of urban commercial centers created a new demand for entertaining stories to be published and performed. Nichiren began to appear not only in popular picture books, woodblock illustrations, but also on the stage. The dramatization and prolific performance of Nichiren’s life story in this period occurred in conjunction with the spread of kaichō. In particular, there was a sharp increase in the number of kabuki performances from the early 1800s. This trend continued into the Meiji period and beyond, and played an important role in shaping the popular perception of Nichiren. The publication of biographies by lay authors also flourished during the same period. Among others, most popular by far was the best-selling Nichiren daishi shinjitsu den (True Account of the Great Bodhisattva Nichiren) by the lay Nichiren Buddhist scholar Ogawa Taidō (1814–1878) targeting a broad audience, first published in 1867.
In premodern sectarian hagiographies, composed by both clerics and lay authors, Nichiren is celebrated as a wonderworker, spiritual hero and bringer of this-worldly benefits. In the process of inheriting this image, modern elaborations have reframed the narrative recounting of Nichiren’s life in new settings and genres through a wide range of media, facilitating the coexistence of his mystical character and miraculous stories surrounding him with more rational, sometimes mutually controversial alternatives. To illustrate premodern roots of modern elaborations of Nichiren’s life, the ways in which Nichiren’s images underwent transformations when adapted into new media (photography, devotional monuments, popular youth magazines, popular narrative singing performance, etc.), and ways in which personal experience shapes an author’s approach to Nichiren biography, this paper examines the cases of a lay Nichiren Buddhist leader Tanaka Chigaku (1861–1939), the literary figure Takayama Chogyū (1871–1902), and the naniwabushi performer Tōchūken Kumoemon (1873–1916).
In conclusion, this paper argues that for Japanese Buddhism modernity entailed not only the demythologization of the founder’s image, but also the remythologization in a new manner, which served the needs of the narrators and their audiences.
Since the nineteenth and early twentieth century, biographers of Nichiren have not been limited to clerics and lay devotees, and Nichiren has not been represented exclusively as the founder of the Nichirenshū. However, most modern elaborations have premodern roots and therefore represent as much continuity as innovation. The life story of Nichiren has been elaborated in a wide range of literary, visual and performing arts genres, including hagiographies, novels, kabuki plays, paintings, and films. Following an overview of the premodern Nichiren images and hagiographies and their defining characteristics, this study explores how the accounts of Nichiren’s life were modified and amplified by nonclerical authors in modern Japan. It argues that for Japanese Buddhism, modernity entailed not only the demythologization of the founder’s image, but also its remythologization in a new manner, which served the needs of the narrators and their audiences.