Tanaka’s vision underwent elaboration in his lectures and writings over the … years. He divided the mappō era, the Final Dharma age for which the Lotus Sūtra was intended, into three periods: the founding period, when Nichiren had lived and declared his teaching; the era of dissemination, when faith in the Lotus Sūtra was destined to spread; and the era of unification, when all people would embrace it. For Tanaka, this era of unification would be the “golden age” of ōbutsu myōgō—the merging of the ruler’s dharma with the Buddha Dharma—another phrase he derived from the Sandai hihō shō. At this time, a majority of the nation having been converted, the Diet would pass an amendment revising the constitutional article allowing for freedom of religion and make Nichiren Buddhism the state creed, and an imperial edict would be issued to build the kaidan, thus formalizing the merger of Buddhism and government. Politics, society, ethics, thought—all would all be unified on the basis of the Lotus Sūtra, a goal that Tanaka referred to as the “realization of Buddhahood by the land” (kokudo jōbutsu). This goal was “not like heaven or the Pure Land, which are never actually expected to appear before our eyes. We predict, envision, and aim for it as a reality that we will definitely witness.”