Nichiren, Japanese founder of Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren (6 April 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period.Nichiren: 77 : 1  declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of Buddhism, insisting that the Sovereign of Japan and its people should support only this form of Buddhism and eradicate all others. He advocated the repeated recitation of its title, Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo as the only path to Buddhahood and held that Shakyamuni Buddha and all other Buddhist deities were extraordinary manifestations of a particular Buddha-nature termed “Myoho—Renge” that is equally accessible to all. He declared that believers of the Sutra must propagate it even under persecution.Nichiren was a prolific writer and his biography, temperament, and the evolution of his beliefs has been gleaned primarily from his own writings.: 99 : 442  He claimed the reincarnation of Jōgyō bodhisattva in a past life, and designated six senior disciples, of which the claims to successorship are contested. After his death, he was bestowed the title Nichiren Dai-Bosatsu (日蓮大菩薩, Great Bodhisattva Nichiren) by the Emperor Go-Kōgon in 1358 and the title Risshō Daishi (立正大師, Great Teacher of Correction) was conferred posthumously through imperial edict by the Emperor Taisho in 1922.Today, Nichiren Buddhism includes traditional temple schools such as Nichiren-shu sects and Nichiren Shōshū, as well as lay movements such as Soka Gakkai, Risshō Kōsei Kai, Reiyūkai, Kenshōkai, Honmon Butsuryū-shū, Kempon Hokke, and Shōshinkai among many others. Each group has varying views of Nichiren's teachings with claims and interpretations of Nichiren's identity ranging from the rebirth of Bodhisattva Visistacaritra to the Primordial or "True Buddha" (本仏, Honbutsu) of the Third Age of Buddhism.