Nichiren Shosu Renews Ties With Minobu 
Spirit of Nikko Shonin, Its Founder, Lost

 Gohonzons of various kinds and sizes are sold by vendors on the grounds of Kuon-ji temple, the Monobu sect's head temple
 
 Twenty-six Admonitions of Nikko

Article 6 : Lay believers should be strictly prohibited from visiting heretical temples and shrines. Moreover, priests should not visit slanderous temples or shrines, which are inhabited by demons, even if only to have a look around. To do so would be a pitiful violation of the Daishonin's Buddhism. This is not my own personal view; it wholly derives from the sutras of Shakyamuni and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin.
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Underlying the above admonition is Nikko Shonin's outrage that both Hakiri Sanenaga, the lord of Minobu, and Niko, the lord's mentor and one of the six senior priests designated by Nichiren Daishonin, ignored and even rediculed Nikko Shonin's repeated warning regarding their slanderous conduct. Therefore, Nikko Shonin had to leave Minobu and establish the home of the Daishonin's teachings at Taiseki-ji.  

Today, the Minobu sect, the center of the erroneous Nichiren Shu sect, displays the same confusion about the Daishonin's teaching as its founder, Niko. Neglecting the Daishonin's guidance to respect the Gohonzon as the sole object of devotion, Minobu allows the Gohonzon to be peddled to tourists.  

Since 1994, in more than a dozen documented instances, Nichiren Shoshu priests and officials have visited Minobu temples, and Minobu priests have visited Taiseki-ji. Such association, which would never have been seen during the days of the former high priest, Nittatsu Hosoi, strongly indicates the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood's fundamental loss of Taiseki-ji's founding spirit.  
 
 
 
To members of the Minobu sect, the Gohonzon is one of many religious goods.
 
  
     Kaido Seki (wearing glasses and hat), chief priest of Nichiren Shoshu Butsuju-Ji temple in Tokyo, visits Minobu's Tanjo-ji temple in Chiba prefecture on March 12, 1995.
     
  • Gishu Funahashi (wearing glasses and raising left arm), chief priest of Nichiren Shoshu Oken-ji temple in Kanagawa precfecture, visits Minobu's Konpon-ji temple in Sado on May 10, 1997. 
 
 
Some 20 Minobu priests visit Taiseki-ji on September 17, 1997. This photo was taken in front of the Mieido temple on the grounds of the head temple. 
     
    Several Minobu priests visit Taiseki-ji on June 6, 1995. This is an occurrence that would have been unheard of during the time of the former high priest, Nittatsu Hosoi. In formal robe, guiding the Minobu priests is Nikkai Takano, an executive priest of Nichiren Shoshu.
 
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