Nichiren Daishi shinjitsuden 日蓮大士真実伝

FSC-GR-780.74.1-5

Commentary by Sherry D. Fowler

Posted September 23, 2016

Nichiren Daishi shinjitsuden (True transmission of Master Nichiren) is an illustrated biography of Nichiren 日蓮 (1222–1282), the founder of the Nichiren (日蓮), or Hokke (法華), school of Buddhism. The book’s five volumes are organized such that they correspond to different periods of Nichiren’s life: volume one (1222–50; ages 1–29); volume two (1251–56; ages 30–35); volume three (1257–67; ages 36–46); volume four (1268–73; ages 47–52); and volume five (1274–82; ages 53–61).

Nichiren Daishi shinjitsuden was first published in 1867. Its release and that of other publications on the founder corresponded to the growing numbers of followers of Nichiren Buddhism in the Edo period. The great quantity of extant copies indicates that it was very popular and widely distributed, as was the 1858 illustrated Nichiren biography Nichiren Shōnin ichidai zue (FSC-GR-780.261.1-6).

The editors of the book, Ogawa Taidō (1814–1878) and Tanaka Kichiemon (dates unknown), wished the text to be comprehensive and scholarly but also accessible. This explains the inclusion of furigana gloss characters to simplify the reading of the text. Another way in which the text was made more accessible is seen in the addition of illustrations, which in this work are by the ukiyo-e artist Hasegawa Settei. The son of the prolific artist Hasegawa Settan, Settei collaborated with his father on the illustrations for the highly successful 1838 book Totō saijiki (FSC-GR-780.71.1-5). Settei specialized in figures and landscapes, and many of the images in Nichiren Daishi shinjitsuden reflect this expertise with outdoor scenes similar to those found in gazetteers of the period.

One striking example is the first representation in volume three that shows the devastation of the great Kamakura earthquake of Shōka 1 (1257), with the destruction of buildings, mass conflagration, and inhabitants being crushed under the weight of fallen debris. The earthquake was viewed as just one of the many calamities that occurred because people did not respect the teachings of the Lotus sutra (Hoke-kyō 法華経). Nichiren preached that since the world was in the time of mappō (末法)—a period corresponding to the degeneration of Buddhist law—devotion to the Lotus sutra was essential, and it should be revered above all other Buddhist sutras. Another dramatic image is the ninth illustration in volume three. It depicts the ship about to set sail that will transport Nichiren away following his banishment to Izu in Kōchō 1 (1261). Nichiren holds his hands up in prayer while his disciple Nichirō 日朗 (1245–1320) and others writhe in agony on the beach over the master’s forced departure.

The page preceding the colophon in volume five tells readers that “Mount Minobu” owns the woodblocks for the book (Minobusan zōhan 身延山蔵版). Ownership of the woodblocks functioned as a form of copyright. Mount Minobu refers to the temple Kuonji (久遠寺) in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture, where Nichiren passed away and where his grave is located.

Nichiren Daishi shinjitsuden was frequently republished after 1867. The National Diet Library in Tokyo has digitized an edition released by the Kyoto publisher Murakami Shoten in 1913. [1] The illustrations are similar to the Pulverer copy, but the layout differs in order to accommodate the placement of the images onto a single page rather than the double-page opening of the 1867 edition. The work continues to be relevant as seen in the 1964 edition published by the Tokyo publisher Kinseisha, which provides almost all the original Nichiren Daishi shinjitsuden text, but it has only reprints of one original illustration per volume.

Selected readings

Miyazaki Eishū 宮崎英修, Nichiren jiten 『日蓮辞典』 (Tokyo: Tōkyōdō Shuppan, 1978).

Mochizuki Masami 望月真澄, “Bakumatsu, ishinki niokeru Nichiren denkibon no ikkōsatsu—Ogawa Taidō chō Nichiren Daishi shinjitsudeno chūshin ni” 「幕末・維新期における日蓮伝記本の一考察—小川泰堂著「日蓮大士真実伝」を中心に—」, Indogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū　印度學佛教學研究 59, no. 2 (2011), 767–74.

Copies in other collections

Gifu City Library (vol. 3 digitized by National Diet Library, Tokyo)

Kansai University, Osaka

Meiji University, Tokyo

Nara Prefectural Library and Information Center

National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Tokyo University

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Library

University of California (UC) Berkeley Library

Waseda University, Tokyo

Yokohama National University

[1] See http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/912421 (accessed September 18, 2016).