THE PICTORIAL LIFE OF SAINT NICHIREN

Scene 15 Exiled to Ito

Without due process St. Nichiren was arrested and sentenced to banishment. As he was being taken aboard a government boat, Nichiro, his youthful disciple, pleaded to be taken along with his master, but was struck down with an oar by one of the officers. The Saint rose and comforted Nichiro, explaining it had been prophesied in the Lotus Sutra that during the age of mappo (the period of decline of the Buddha's teachings) those who propagate the teachings of the Lotus Sutra would be beaten with sticks and driven into exile. The date was May 12^th, 1261.

Scene 16 The Mana-ita Reef

It was about 4:00 P.M. when St. Nichiren was dropped off on a reef, still some distance from shore. This was the Manaita reef, located just off Ito on the Izu peninsula, on which a person could walk to shore at low tide. Unfortunately for the Saint, it was approaching high tide and most of the reef was completely submerged. Here his life was spared by a fisherman who was on his way home. This was the first of four great persecutions to which St. Nichiren was to be subjected during his lifetime.