The first person to re-envision the establishment of the kaidan in a modern context was Tanaka Chigaku (1861-1931). As a young man, Tanaka had abandoned his training for the priesthood of Nichirenshū, the chief denomination of Nichiren Buddhism, to embark on a career of lecturing and proselytizing as a lay teacher. What he advocated was not the traditional Nichiren Buddhism of temples and priests but “Nichirenshugi [Nichirenism],” a popularized, lay-oriented Nichiren doctrine applicable to contemporary social realities. In particular, he saw Nichirenshugi as providing a spiritual basis for Japan as a modern state, and “the fusion of Dharma and nation” (hōkoku myōgō) would be his lifelong concern. In 1881 Tanaka founded the Rengekai (Lotus Blossom Society) in Yokohama to propagate Nichirenshugi ideals. It was reorganized in 1885 as the Risshō Ankokukai (after Nichiren’s Risshō ankoku ron) and again in 1914 as the Kokuchūkai, or “Pillar of the Nation Society” (after Nichiren’s words, “I will be the pillar of Japan”).