After returning to the Kiyosumidera, Nichiren set out again for the vicinity of the capital, where he studied on Mt. Hiei and at other locations. Virtually nothing is known of his studies on Mt. Hiei. During his stay there, the master of instruction (sōgakutō) was Shunpan, a leading Tendai scholar and the current patriarch of the Sugiu line of the Eshin school. Traditional accounts maintain that Nichiren received from Shunpan the transmission of the Eshin lineage, which some modern scholars have upheld. However, the few brief references to Shunpan in Nichiren’s writings convey no sense of a personal relationship. Takagi Yutaka argues that while Nichiren may have audited Shunpan’s public lectures, his common birth would have precluded his entry into a master-disciple relationship with so eminent a prelate. Moreover, his Kantō accent would have instantly marked him as native of the eastern provinces, despised as culturally backward by people of the Kyoto region. Takagi further suggests that Nichiren’s exclusion from the circles of initiates that formed around the leading masters on Mt. Hiei may have led to his habit of turning to written documents, rather than living teachers, for instruction and verification. The first of the four reliances, “Rely on the Dharma and not upon persons” (ehō fuenin), would be his lifelong motto. Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that Shunpan was among those ranking Tendai prelates who vigorously opposed Hōnen’s teaching. Even if Nichiren’s only exposure to Shunpan were through public lectures, what he heard may have confirmed him in his objections to the exclusive nenbutsu. (Page 244-245)