What the Nichiren school is
The Nichiren school is a Buddhist school founded by the Kamakura-period monk Nichiren (1222-1282). According to the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual commentaries, Nichiren studied the major schools of Japanese Buddhism, proclaimed the Lotus Sutra the one true teaching and, in 1253, set forth the invocation Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, devotion to the Lotus Sutra. Chanting this title is at the heart of his teaching. Nichiren spent his last years on Mount Minobu in Yamanashi, and Kuonji, founded there, is the head temple of the school.
The school has several head temples across Japan, and the agency's commentary names Myohoji in Nagaoka, Niigata, as one of them. Several schools descend from Nichiren's lineage, including the Nichiren school, the Hokke schools and Nichiren Shōshū. Articles should use the school name a temple uses in its own materials.
Features seen in buildings
Nichiren temples often have a founder's hall enshrining an image of Nichiren, ranking alongside the main hall. Many also have a banjindō enshrining the thirty guardian deities who protect the Lotus Sutra. The banjindō of Renjoji in Nantan, Kyoto, is recorded with a Buddha-backing wall and altar platform at the centre of its sanctuary and a row of five household-shrine shelves behind them, conveying the practice of banjin devotion.
Articles should confirm a temple's school from the record or the temple's own materials. Affiliations can change over time, and where the founding school differs from the present one, the difference should be stated.
References
- 身延山久遠寺 日蓮聖人の半生と身延山久遠寺の歴史｜観光庁 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース
- https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/R2-01288.html
- 妙法寺｜観光庁 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース
- https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/common/001781081.pdf
- 蓮乗寺番神堂｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013134
Last verified: 2026.09.26