Great events are foreshadowed by great omens. The birth of the Buddha, His first preaching, and His death were paralleled by omens, good or bad, as great as never seen before or after. It was because the Buddha was the greatest sage of all. When the Buddha was born, according to various sūtras, rays of light in five colors shone in four directions, so the night looked as bright as the day. When He passed away, it is said, twelve white rainbows spanned north and south and the sun stopped shining, so the day became as dark as the night. For 2,000 years afterward, during the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, although many sages had been born and had died, such great omens as those which preceded the birth and death of the Buddha never occurred before.

Nevertheless, the great earthquake and strange phenomena in the sky which we have had since the Shōka Era (1257-59) till this year, the tenth year of the Bun’ei Era (1273), are comparable to those great omens at the time of Śākyamuni Buddha’s birth and death. You should know from these occurrences that a man as great as the Buddha is going to be born or is about to pass away. A great comet rose in the sky. Which great ruler or his subject does it foreshadow? An earthquake shook and tilted the great earth three times. Which sage or wise man does it foretell? You should know that these are not ordinary omens, good or bad, large in size. They solely foreshadow the rise or decline of this great dharma!

Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 177