, Buddhist name , was one of the six senior disciples of Nichiren and was the former Chief Priest of Kuon-ji temple in Mount Minobu, Japan. Various Nichiren sects in Japan claim to have been founded by Nikkà Â, the most prominent being Nichiren Shà Âshà « and some lineages within Nichiren Shà «.
Nikkà  kept meticulous records and highly organized religious practice during his lifetime, and is responsible for much of the records that survive today. Nikkà  singularly upheld the doctrine that Nichiren was the True and Eternal Buddha in the Third Age of Buddhism and therefore is considered by schools stemming from Nikkà  such Nichiren Shà Âshà « and the Soka Gakkai as the legitimate successor to the ministry and legacy of Nichiren.
Nikko established the Head Temple Taisekiji at Fujinomiya in 1290, as well as enshrining the Dai Gohonzon image. In 1332, four months before his death, he designated Nichimoku Shonin as his successor. The grave of Nikkà  remains today in Kitayama Honmonji, Omosu, in Suruga Province where he lived for thirty-six years, establishing a Buddhist seminary that affiliated in the Hokke shà « (æ³Âè¯å®Â) religion. The Koshi-E memorial feast of his death anniversary is commemorated on February 6 (Nichiren Shoshu O-tai-ya) and February 7 (Gosho-to-e ceremony).
Nikkà  was born at Kajikazawa in Koma District of Kai Province. His father, Oi-no Kitsuroku was from Totsumi province and later moved to Kai province while maintaining his Samurai career. He died when Nikkà  was a child. Nikkà Â's mother was Myofuku Tsunashima () and was from what is now Shizuoka Prefecture. He was raised by his grandfather, Nyudo Yui. As a child, he entered the Tendai temple Shijuku-in, in Fujiwakabacho, Iwabuchi Ichirizuka. He took the acolyte name, "Hà Âki-bà Â" and received his education here, which as well as Tendai doctrine, included Chinese classics, Japanese literature, poetry, calligraphy, as well as other subjects.
In 1257, Nichiren visited Jisso-ji Temple closely affiliated with Shijuku-in Temple where he studied various Buddhist sutras in its library for his treatise Risshà  Ankoku Ron (ç«Âæ£å®Âå½è«Â, English: "On Establishing the Correct teaching for the Peace of the Land"). Nikkà  served Nichiren here, and vowed to become his disciple. In addition, Nikkà  also accompanied Nichiren on his two exiles.
Nikkà  is also credited with preserving many of Nichiren's voluminous writings. He was particularly careful to ensure the survival of Nichiren's many letters written in simple characters (Kana) for uneducated followers. He was also instrumental in gaining Nichimoku to become a junior disciple of Nichiren.
On 8 October 1282, Nikkà  became one of the six senior priests whom Nichiren designated to carry on his faith after his death. âÂÂOn the eighth day of the tenth month, he designated six senior priests to act as key figures and take responsibility for propagation in their respective areas. They were, in order of their conversion, Nisshà Â, Nichirà Â, Nikkà Â, Nikà Â, Nitchà Â, and NichijiâÂÂ. According to various Nichiren school that claim Nikko as their founder, on October 13, 1282, Nichiren further designated Nikkà  the chief priest of Kuon-ji, the temple at Mt. Minobu in Yamanashi Prefecture, where Nichiren had spent the last years of his life as purportedly recorded in a transfer document called Minobu-zan Fuzoku-sho ("Document entrusting Mt. Minobu"); however, the authenticity of this document is disputed by some Nichiren schools. Later that same day, Nichiren died at Ikegami, now part of Tokyo.
At Minobu Nikkà  recorded the âÂÂlectures on the Lotus Sutraâ that the Daishonin gave to his disciples and compiled them as The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings (OTT). After the DaishoninâÂÂs passing, Nikkà  Shà Ânin collected and copied his teacherâÂÂs writings, which he called the Gosho, or honorable writings.
Following Nichiren's 100th day funeral ceremonies, Nikkà  left Ikegami on October 21 to carry Nichiren's ashes back to Mount Minobu, arriving on October 25. On the centenarian anniversary of Nichiren's death, Nikkà Â, the other five senior priests, and their disciples conducted a 100th-day memorial service, after which the others departed for their own territories where they were most active. Nikkà  carried out his duties as chief priest of Kuon-ji, teaching disciples and looking after the laity. Central to his work was attending, cleaning and maintaining Nichiren's tomb, and collecting and cataloguing Nichiren's many writings for preservation and perpetuation.
Latter feelings of animosity and discord grew after the second death anniversary of Nichiren's 100th Day Memorial ceremony (23 January 1283) when, according to Nikko, the rotation system agreed in the "Shuso Gosenge Kiroku" (English: Record document of founder's demise) and Rembo Cho (English: Rotation Wheel System) to clean and maintain Nichiren's grave, was being abandoned by the other five senior disciples.
By the third anniversary of Nichiren's death (13 October 1284), Nikkà  claimed that the other five senior priests no longer returned to Nichiren's tomb in Mount Minobu, citing the deer hoofs and other signs of neglect at the gravesite. In addition, Nikkà  accused that after Nichiren's death, the other disciples slowly began to deviate from Nichiren's teachings.
Chief among these complaints was the syncretism by some of the disciples to worship images of both Shakyamuni Buddha while admonishing other disciple priests for signing their names "Tendai Shamon" of the Tendai Buddhist school in the subsequent documents notarized and sent to the Kamakura government. Furthermore, Nikko alleged that the other disciples became condescending towards some of Nichiren's writings because they were not written in Classical Chinese, but in the Japanese Katakana syllabary, which was deemed inferior at the time. Accordingly, Nikko Shonin claimed that the other senior disciples permitted Gohonzons originally inscribed by Nichiren to be buried with lay and priestly disciples, a highly controversial practice accused by the Head Temple Taisekiji to be sacrilegious and impermissible to present time.
The steward of the temple district, Hagiri Sanenaga, who had been converted by Nikkà Â, also began to commit unorthodox practices which Nikkà  deemed to be heretical, such as the following:
These controversial acts received tolerance from another senior disciple, Mimbu Nikà  (æ° é¨ æÂÂ¥ Ã¥ÂÂ, 1253âÂÂ1314) to be acceptable due to having been done ordinarily with the knowledge of Nichiren while he was alive. Accordingly, Hagiri Sanenaga provided his own personal reason that it was customary for his political family to make homage to the Shinto shrine of the Kamakura Shogunate, as well as reasoning that he had provided monetary donations to other Buddhist schools even when Nichiren himself was alive.
Such developments eventually led Nikkà  to conclude that Nichiren's enlightened entity no longer resided at Mount Minobu. Furthermore, he entered a state of mental depression and deeply felt that Kuon-ji Temple was no longer the place for perpetuating Nichiren's teachings, causing him to pack up his personal belongings, the Dai Gohonzon mandala and some venerated relics belonging to Nichiren to depart, never to return. Nikkà  left Mount Minobu with a group of select disciples in the spring of 1289. Nanjo Shichijo-jiro Tokimitsu, a lay believer residing near Mount Fuji took great pity on Nikko Shonin and his disciples and offered them sanctuary to stay, later donating a tract of land for a new temple that became Taiseki-ji Temple. Taiseki-ji is today the head temple of the Nichiren Shà Âshà « school and, since its founding on 12 October 1290, has been a major center of the Kà Âmon-ha (èÂÂéÂÂæ´¾, also called the å¯Â士派: Fuji-ha) branch of Nichiren Buddhism, as the schools stemming from Nikkà  were traditionally known.
Upon nearing death on 10 November 1332, Nikkà  named his disciple Nichimoku (1260âÂÂ1333) as his successor and passed onto him the Ozagawari Gohonzon, inscribed in 8 April 1308 for the memorial honor of the martyr âÂÂJinshiroâÂÂ, approximately 14 years after the persecution of Hei No Saimon Yoritsuna. This mandala is now enshrined inside the Dai-Kyakuden, along with his Juzu beads made of Crystal and Shimamenu Onyx which are now preserved in the Gohozo building of Taisekiji.
For the remaining 36 years of his life, Nikkà  then retired a few miles away to Omosu, Suruga Province where he founded a seminary and temple, Kitayama Honmon-ji belonging to Hokke-shà « (æ³Âè¯å®Â) school, and concentrated on training disciples until his death in the second lunar month of 1333 at the age of 87. A grave claiming to house the ash remains of Nikkà  Shà Ânin is located in Kitayama Honmonji Temple in Suruga Province. After his death within this same temple, a statue image of the solar goddess Amaterasu Omi-Kami and the protector god Hachiman was enshrined, donated by some early Hokkekà  believers. Such sculptural images are considered only decorative in present teachings of the Nichiren Shà Âshà « school.
According to the doctrinal beliefs of Nichiren Shà Âshà «, Nikkà  Shonin left Mount Minobu with several articles pertaining to Nichiren, namely the following:
Some followers of the Nichiren schools stemming from Nikkà Â, in particular the Nichiren Shà Âshà « school, as well as the Soka Gakkai, view Nikkà  as the legitimate successor to Nichiren. They base this claim on a document dated the ninth lunar month of 1282 called the Nichiren ichigo guhà  fuzoku-sho (âÂÂDocument Entrusting the Law that Nichiren Propagated throughout His LifeâÂÂ). In this document, Nichiren entrusts the "entirety of his lifetime of teaching" to Nikkà  and names him the "Great Master of propagation of the essential teaching". These documents contained in a treasure box are alleged to have been stolen by clan head Takeda Katsuyori on behalf of the Nishiyama Temple, a faction of Nichiren Shà « during the 15th century via force.
Nikkà  also designated six new disciples (Nichidai, Nitchà Â, Nichidà Â, Nichimyà Â, Nichigà Â, and Nichijo), whom he charged with the task of propagation after his death.
Other Nichiren lineages based on the other original five senior disciples vehemently reject this claim of successorship, as they claim the surviving document does not exist in Nichiren's hand or any of his immediate disciples, rather copied down by Nikko's extant disciples. Instead, such schools claim that Nikko was only a resident priest in Kuonji Temple before 1285, and later became the Chief Priest of that temple from 1285âÂÂ1289, just before he moved to the Fujinomiya area.
Some of Nikkà Â's direct disciples also eventually spawned schools that deviated to some degree or another from his own doctrines, often due to political pressure or internal power plays going back and forth to separating or rejoining the Nikko-related temples of the Fujinomiya area before and after the Second World War.