The Buddha preaches in such sūtras as the Lotus and the Nirvana sūtras that after the 2,000-year period of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma since the death of the Buddha, in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration, a dharma-master will appear to spread the five-character sacred title (daimoku) of the Lotus Sūtra while evil kings and monks who do not believe in the Lotus Sūtra will be more numerous than dust-particles on the earth, contending against one another in claiming Hinayāna or Mahāyāna teachings to be supreme. Refuted by the practicer of the daimoku, however, they will talk lay devotees into abusing, beating and jailing him, deprive him of fiefs, exile or behead him. When the practicer does not shirk from spreading the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra despite such persecutions, the Buddha declares, evil kings will begin fighting among themselves, engage in cannibalism like hungry spirits, and in the end be attacked by foreign troops. The Buddha asserts that this is solely because such guardian deities as the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the sun and moon, and the Four Heavenly Kings will have a foreign power attack the country that has become an enemy of the Lotus Sūtra.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 23-24