The Izu Exile

Background

In the eighth month of 1260, infuriated by Nichiren Daishonin’s refutation of the Pure Land school in his On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land, a group of Nembutsu followers attacked his dwelling at Nagoe in Kamakura. The Daishonin narrowly escaped and went to the home of his loyal disciple Toki Jōnin in Shimōsa Province. In the spring of 1261, however, he returned to Kamakura and resumed his propagation efforts.

On the twelfth day of the fifth month, 1261, without any official investigation, the government sentenced the Daishonin to exile in the Izu Peninsula, which was a stronghold of the Pure Land school. The Daishonin was taken to Kawana, a small fishing village on the northeastern coast of the Izu Peninsula. Here he was given shelter and food by Funamori Yasaburō, a fisherman, and his wife, and the couple became his steadfast followers. The steward of Itō District in Izu, Itō Sukemitsu, learning of the Daishonin’s presence a month after his arrival, had the Daishonin summoned in order that he might offer prayers for Sukemitsu’s recovery from a serious illness. Sukemitsu regained his health, and it is said that he, too, became the Daishonin’s follower.

Both Yasaburō and his wife were concerned about the Daishonin’s safety when he went to Itō to pray for the steward’s health. Yasaburō sent a messenger to the Daishonin at Itō with various offerings. The Izu Exile is the Daishonin’s reply. The Daishonin’s exile ended on the twenty-second day of the second month, 1263, and he returned to Kamakura.