The Nichiren Shoshu tradition holds that Nichiren inscribed the Dai-Gohonzon, the great mandala object of devotion, for all humankind in this year; the claim and the mandala's provenance are matters of the tradition's own faith, disputed by other Nichiren schools, and the record states them as such.
Tagged: Buddhist Nichiren Buddhism
The Event
- Date
- 1279 (traditional)
- Also called
- Dai-Gohonzon
- Era
- Medieval; Standard periodization of Buddhist history
- Location
- Minobu; today Yamanashi, Japan
- Traditions
- Buddhism
- Streams
- Nichiren Buddhism
- Key figures
- Nichiren
- Key texts
- The Dai-Gohonzon (mandala)
How the Tradition Tells It
The Dai-Gohonzon's inscription by Nichiren and its purpose for all humankind are the faith claims of Nichiren Shoshu; other Nichiren schools dispute the mandala's provenance and do not share the claim. The event is recorded as the tradition states it, at traditional precision.
Primary Sources
- Nichiren Shoshu tradition
Secondary Sources
- Stone, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Hawaii, 1999)
- Buswell and Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, 2014)
Provenance: HIST-0428; confidence 0.8; accessed 2026-10-27.
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