Editing Nichiren Buddhism (section)

=== Development in modern Japanese history ===
Nichiren Buddhism went through many reforms in the [[Meiji Period]] during a time of persecution, [[Haibutsu kishaku]] (廃仏毀釈), when the government attempted to eradicate mainstream Japanese Buddhism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/transcultural/article/view/733 |title=Transcultural Studies |publisher=Archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de |access-date=28 April 2014}}{{full citation needed|date=April 2014}}</ref> As a part of the [[Meiji Restoration]], the interdependent [[Danka system]] between the state and Buddhist temples was dismantled which left the latter without its funding. Buddhist institutions had to align themselves to the new nationalistic agenda or perish.<ref name=Covell2006/>{{rp|220,226–227}}<ref name=Gier2016>{{cite book |last1=Gier |first1=Nicholas F. |title=The Origins of Religious Violence: An Asian Perspective |date=2016 |publisher=Lexington Books |chapter= Buddhism and Japanese Nationalism: A Sad Chronicle of Complicity  |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LBhBAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |isbn=9781498501880 |location=Lanham, MD}}</ref>{{rp|184–185}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=Religious dynamics under the impact of imperialism and colonialism : a sourcebook|others=Bentlage, Björn, 1979–|isbn=9789004329003|first=Hans M. |last=Kraemer |chapter=Shimaji Mokurai: Petition in Criticism of the Three Articles of Instruction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtY6DQAAQBAJ&q=shimaji+mokurai&pg=PA237|location=Leiden|oclc=951955874|date=17 November 2016}}</ref>{{rp|237–241}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yoshinaga|first=Shin'ichi|date=July 2009|title=Theosophy and Buddhist Reformers in the Middle of the Meiji Period|journal=Japanese Religions|volume=24 |issue=2|page=122}}</ref> Many of these reform efforts were led by lay people.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Practical pursuits : religion, politics, and personal cultivation in nineteenth-century Japan|author=Sawada, Janine Anderson|isbn=9780824827526|location=Honolulu|oclc=875895206 |page=181 |year = 2004}}</ref><ref name=Hardacre1984>{{Cite book|title=The Lotus Sutra in Japanese culture|date=1989|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|first=helen |last=Hardacre |chapter=The Lotus Sutra in Modern Japan|others=Tanabe, George J., Jr., 1943–, Tanabe, Willa J. (Willa Jane), 1945–, International Conference on the Lotus Sutra and Japanese Culture (1st : 1984 : University of Hawaii)|isbn=9780824811983|location=Honolulu|oclc=18960211 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=meiji%20buddhism%20lay%20nichiren&pg=PA209 |quote=In all areas of Japanese religions, the trend to lay centrality is among the most conspicuous historical developments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By lay centrality I mean an increasingly important role for laity in all aspects of religious life and a weakening of the distinction between clerical and lay status. Lay centrality characterizes the nineteenth- and twentieth-century history of both Buddhism and Shinto and is closely related to the appearance of new religious groups outside the ecclesiastical hierarchy of either tradition. Lay centrality in Buddhism was stimulated after the Meiji Restoration by haibutsu kishaku (movement to destroy Buddhism), which became the occasion for serious reform within temple Buddhism. Early Meiji Buddhism witnessed the appearance of popularizers, ecumenical thought, and moves to initiate laity in the precepts, all aspects of the trend to lay centrality.
}}</ref>{{rp|209}}<ref name=Stone2005>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nichiren-school|title=Nichiren School|last=Stone|first=Jacqueline I|website=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=16 March 2018|archive-date=16 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216143836/https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nichiren-school|url-status=live}}</ref>

The trend toward lay centrality was prominent in Nichiren Buddhism as well, predating the Meiji period.<ref name=Hardacre1984/>{{rp|209}}<ref name=Tanabe1989>{{cite book|last=Tamura|first=Yoshio|title=The Ideas of the Lotus Sutra, In: George Joji Tanabe; Willa Jane Tanabe, eds. The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=meiji%20buddhism%20lay%20nichiren&pg=PA51|year=1989|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1198-3|pages=50–51}}</ref>  Some Nichiren reformers in the Meiji period attempted to inject a nationalistic interpretation of Nichiren's teachings; others called for globalist perspectives. According to Japanese researcher ''Yoshiro Tamura'', the term "[[Nichirenism]]" applies broadly to the following three categories:
#  The ultranationalistic preoccupation with Nichiren that contributed to Japan's militaristic effort before [[World War II]].
#  Socialist activists and writers during the prewar and postwar eras who promoted a vision of an ideal world society inspired by the [[Lotus Sutra]] and according to their own views of Nichiren.
#  Organized religious bodies that were inspired by Nichiren's teachings.<ref name=Habito1999>{{Cite journal|last=Habito|first=Ruben L.F.|date=1994|title=The Uses of Nichiren in Modern Japanese History|url=http://www.hbsitalia.it/public/materiale/554.pdf|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3–4|access-date=10 January 2018|archive-date=10 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110175348/http://www.hbsitalia.it/public/materiale/554.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|424}}

==== As a form of nationalism ====
{{See also|Nichirenism}}
Both Nichiren and his followers have been associated with fervent [[Japanese nationalism]] specifically identified as [[Nichirenism]] between the [[Meiji period]] and the conclusion of [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2682|title=Revisiting Nichiren; Ruben L. F. Habito and Jacqueline I. Stone|access-date=28 January 2014|archive-date=2 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202120830/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2682|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=kodera>{{cite journal|last=Kodera|first=Takashi James|title=Nichiren and His Nationalistic Eschatology|journal=Religious Studies|date=March 1979|volume=15|issue=1|pages=41–53|doi=10.1017/s0034412500011057|jstor=20005538|s2cid=170854567 }}</ref> The nationalistic interpretation of Nichiren's teachings were inspired by lay Buddhist movements like [[Kokuchūkai]] and resulted in violent historical events such as the [[May 15 Incident]] and the [[League of Blood Incident]].<ref>Tanaka Chigaku: What is Nippon Kokutai? Introduction to Nipponese National Principles. Shishio Bunka, Tokyo 1935–36</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalbuddhism.org/2/victoria011.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531021739/http://www.globalbuddhism.org/2/victoria011.html|url-status=dead|title=Brian Daizen Victoria, Senior Lecturer Centre for Asian Studies, University of Adelaide, ''Engaged Buddhism: A Skeleton in the Closet?''|archive-date=31 May 2013}}</ref><ref>Pokorny, Lukas (2011).[https://web.archive.org/web/20131214064924/https://www.abdn.ac.uk/staffpages/uploads/dhp028/Neue_religiose_Bewegungen_in_Japan_heute_-_Ein_Uberblick_Lukas_Pokorny.pdf Neue religiöse Bewegungen in Japan heute: ein Überblick] [New Religious Movements in Japan Today: a Survey]. In: Hödl, Hans Gerald and Veronika Futterknecht, ed. Religionen nach der Säkularisierung. Festschrift für Johann Figl zum 65. Geburtstag, Wien: LIT, p. 187</ref> Among the key proponents of this interpretation are [[Tanaka Chigaku|Chigaku Tanaka]] who founded the [[Kokuchūkai]] (English: Nation's Pillar Society). Tanaka was charismatic and through his writings and lecturers attracted many followers such as [[Kanji Ishiwara]].<ref name=Habito1999/>{{rp|427–428}} Nisshō Honda advocated the unification of Japanese Buddhists to support the imperial state.<ref name=Habito1999/>{{rp|428}}<ref name=Covell2006>{{Cite book|title=Buddhism in world cultures : comparative perspectives|date=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|first=Stephen G |last=Covell |chapter=8: Buddhism in Japan, The creation of traditions |others=Berkwitz, Stephen C., 1969– |isbn=9781851097821|location=Santa Barbara|oclc=70136919}}</ref>{{rp|230}} Other ultra-nationalist activists who based their ideas on Nichiren were [[Ikki Kita]] and [[Nisshō Inoue]].<ref name=Habito1999/>{{rp|429}}

==== As a form of socialism ====
Nichirenism also includes several intellectuals and activists who reacted against the prewar ultranationalistic interpretations and argued for an egalitarian and socialist vision of society based on Nichiren's teachings and the Lotus Sutra. These figures ran against the growing tide of Japanese militarism and were subjected to political harassment and persecution.<ref name=Habito1999 />{{rp|425}} A leading figure in this group was [[Girō Seno'o|Girō Seno]] who formed the [[Girō Seno'o#Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism|New Buddhist Youth League]] (''Shinkō Bukkyō Seinen Dōmei'').

Originally influenced by the ideals of Tanaka and Honda, Giro Seno came to reject ultra-nationalism and argued for humanism, socialism, pacifism, and democracy as a new interpretation of Nichiren's beliefs. He was imprisoned for two years under the [[Peace Preservation Law#Public Security Preservation Law of 1925|National Security Act]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Buddhism and the political process|first=James Mark |last=Shields |page=223 |chapter=Opium Eaters: Buddhism as Revolutionary Politics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZAYDAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+lay+pre-war&pg=PA223 |others=Kawanami, Hiroko|isbn=9781137574008|location=Basingstoke, Hampshire|oclc=949365321|date=29 April 2016 }}</ref> The same fate was also endured by [[Tsunesaburo Makiguchi]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tmakiguchi.org/religiousreformer/asreligiousreformer/detainmentinterrogation.html|title=Tsunesaburo Makiguchi|author=Tsunesaburo Makiguchi Website Committee|work=Religious Reformer|publisher=Soka Gakkai|access-date=2 January 2019|archive-date=1 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601032720/https://www.tmakiguchi.org/religiousreformer/asreligiousreformer/detainmentinterrogation.html|url-status=live}}</ref> who refused the religious dictum of [[Shinto]] display accepted by [[Nichiren Shoshu]] for the ''Soka Kyoiku Gakkai'', his lay organization composed of primarily secretaries and teachers until it grew to become [[Soka Gakkai]] after [[World War II]].

==== Within new social and religious movements ====
{{See also|Japanese new religions}}
Several Nichiren-inspired religious movements arose and appealed primarily to this segment of society with a message of alleviating suffering salvation for many poor urban workers.<ref name=Habito1999/>{{rp|425}} [[Honmon Butsuryū-shū]], an early example of lay-based religious movements of the modern period inspired by Nichiren, was founded several years before the Meiji Restoration. [[Reiyukai]], [[Rissho Koseikai]] stemming from [[Nichiren Shu]] while [[Kenshokai]] and [[Soka Gakkai]] once affiliated<ref>Till 28 November 1991, when a [[schism]] is pronounced.</ref> with [[Nichiren Shoshu]] and the Japanese principle ''Shin''(信 ), ''Gyo'' (行), ''Gaku'' (学)"  as "Faith, Practices, Study", are more recent examples of lay-inspired movements drawing from Nichiren's teachings and life.<ref name=Habito1999/>{{rp|433}}

==== In culture and literature ====
Nichiren Buddhism has had a major impact on Japan's literary and cultural life. Japanese literary figure [[Takayama Chogyū]] and children's author [[Kenji Miyazawa]] praised Nichiren's teachings. A prominent researcher, [[Masaharu Anesaki]], was encouraged to study Nichiren which led to the work ''Nichiren: The Buddhist Prophet'' which introduced Nichiren to the West.<ref name=Habito1999/>{{rp|430–431}} Non-Buddhist Japanese individuals such as [[Uchimura Kanzō]] listed Nichiren as one of five historical figures who best represented Japan, while [[Tadao Yanaihara]]  described Nichiren as one of the four historical figures he most admired.<ref name=Habito1999/>{{rp|430–433}}