Nichizō Shōnin
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Nichizō Shōnin (日増上人) was a Buddhist priest who spread the teachings of the Lotus Sutra to the island of Yakushima in southern Japan.[1][2] In 1488 he founded the temple of Kuhonji (久本寺).[3] Due to his missionary activities all of the temples on the island transitioned to the Nichiren school of Buddhism.[3]
In the 1480s, Nichizō retreated to a cave atop Mount Nagata where he recited the Lotus Sutra for seven days.[2] Since then, the native kami of the Shinto religion, Hikohohodemi no Mikoto, has been venerated as a manifestation of the Buddhist mountain deity Ippon Hoju Daigongen.[2] This fusion of the indigenous Shinto religion with the introduced Buddhism religion is known as Shinbutsu-shūgō.