On the twelfth of the ninth month of the eighth year of the Bun’ei Era (1274) two days after I was summoned by the Council of State, I was arrested. The way I was arrested seemed unusual and unlawful. It was far larger in scale than the arrest of Ryōgyō who rebelled against the Kamakura Shogunate in 1251, or of Taifu no Risshi (Miura Ryōken) who planned to overthrow the shogunate in 1261. Led by Hei no Saemonnojō, Deputy Commander of the Board of Retainers, several hundreds of soldiers clad in armor and ebōshi hat with glaring eyes and shouting angrily came to arrest me.

Contemplating the truth of the matter, the way of governing the country by the Kamakura Shogunate was like that of the late dictator Lay Priest Taira no Kiyomori, who brought this country to ruin by arrogating power. This was a serious mistake. Witnessing this outrageousness, I said to myself, “This is what I have always been longing for. How lucky I am to be able to sacrifice my life for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra. To be beheaded and lose my malodorous head is like exchanging sand for gold and pebbles for jewels.”

At that moment, Shō-bō, a ranking vassal of Saemonnojō, rushed at me, snatched the fifth fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra from my bosom, beat my face with it three times, and tore it to pieces. Other soldiers scattered the remaining nine fascicles of the Threefold Lotus Sūtra, stepped on them, wrapped themselves in them, scattering them all over the straw mats or the wooden floor of the house.

Seeing their riotous behavior, I uttered in a loud voice, “How interesting! Everybody, look at Hei no Saemonnojō Yoritsuna losing his head! He is now going to fell the pillar of Japan.” It appeared that Saemonnojō and his vassals as well as onlookers were all struck dumb and astonished. Nichiren was the one in disgrace with the shogunate and therefore, he should have appeared nervous under such circumstances, but on the contrary, it was the poor soldiers who looked like cowards and were pale with fear perhaps because they were regretful of having torn and scattered the sacred sūtra.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Page 1

The fifth volume of Nichiren’s writings is dedicated to his biography and that of his disciples. Rather than doctrine these focus on events and provide a glimpse into what Nichiren’s life resembled in 13th Century Japan.

This letter, in particular, is praised in the Introduction as “an irreplaceable source for writing his biography.” I find the fragment I’ve quoted above says much about Nichiren, his attitude about his persecution and the unshakable faith he held in the Lotus Sūtra. I smile as I imagine the soldiers dancing around, wrapped in sūtra scrolls, stopping, suddenly embarrassed at the realization of their inappropriate conduct, and Nichiren amid the chaos looking every bit the Pillar of Japan.