Nichiren (1222–1282) was a Tendai monk who decided that all the existing schools of Buddhism were heretical and needed to return to the correct practice as expressed in the Lotus Sutra. His fierce denunciations of the practices of the Shingon, Zen, Tendai and Pure Land sects created many enemies. He was subjected to several assassination attempts and spent many years in exile. However he was a charismatic leader and was able to recruit many enthusiastic followers.

His years in exile gave him time to become a prolific writer and he produced many erudite dissertations on the mysteries of the Lotus Sutra and why everyone else was wrong.

After his death Nichiren Buddhism split into a number of different schools, each convinced that it possessed the correct understanding of the master’s teachings. These schools, taken together, constitute the second-largest group of Buddhists in Japan today. During World War II some Nichiren Buddhist leaders were imprisoned for openly defying the militarist government, which gave them enhanced credibility after Japan’s defeat.

There is also a Nichiren Buddhist political party, known in English as the New Komeito Party, or NKP. It is considered a center-right party and usually serves as a junior coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It is thus currently out of power.