The promulgation of Buddhist doctrines has been divided from the earliest times into three periods, the last of which is called the Period of the Latter-day Law. Nichiren regarded his own time as falling under this designation, and considered it as the proper occasion for promulgating the doctrines of the [Lotus Sutra]. He therefore began his work in the year 1252 of the Christian era. At this epoch, the true original doctrines of the faith had become corrupted by the intermixture of much that was false and temporary, so that popular belief in the Buddha had lost its purity, and divisions had crept in. Deeply grieved at the error and confusion which reigned, Nichiren set himself very laboriously to work in promulgating the Good Law. He found, however, not only that its acceptance would be a matter of some time, but that his efforts to enforce it raised up many enemies and opponents, whose hostility gave him no small amount of trouble. The difficult position in which he now found himself coincided almost exactly with that predicted by Sakyamuni two thousand years before. “The Law,” he said in the [Lotus Sutra], has many opponents and enemies, even now while I am in the world. It will necessarily have many more after my departure.” Now, being determined to stake his very life in promulgating the Good Law, Nichiren thus addressed the Buddha: “To despise and reject the Holy Book of our Sect, be it good or bad, is an action proper only to the denizens of hell. Suppose an emperor were to offer me the sovereignty of the empire on condition that I cast away the Holy Book and took up, instead, the religious works used by other sects: and were to threaten me with the decapitation of my father and mother unless I contented myself with repeating the name of Buddha, as the “Pure Land” sectarians do, in order to be born in the Pure Land after death; neither the bribe on one hand, nor the menace on the other, would have the slightest effect upon me. Nothing could ever move me except being outreasoned by a wiser man than myself; and I do not believe that such a man will ever be discovered. Benefits and troubles are alike unable to make any impression on my mind. I want to be, as it were, the pillars for Japan; to be the eyes for Japan; to be the ship for Japan. Of this object I will never lose sight; the oath I have sworn I will never break.” Thus, attesting his professions with an oath, Nichiren founded his new sect; sometimes called by his own name, and sometimes Hokke, after the title of the [Lotus Sutra].