The Story of Ōhashi no Tarō
Background
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter at Minobu in the intercalary third month of the second year of Kenji (1276) to Nanjō Tokimitsu, who lived in Ueno Village, in Suruga Province. Tokimitsu’s father, Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, had died in 1265, when he was seven years old and his mother was pregnant with his younger brother Shichirō Gorō. The death of his father and, later, of his elder brother forced Tokimitsu to assume the duties of steward of Ueno while still in his teens. He was about eighteen years old when he received this letter from the Daishonin.
In the seventh month of 1274, immediately after the Daishonin moved to Minobu, Tokimitsu went to visit him there. Inspired by that reunion—Tokimitsu had met the Daishonin with his parents when he was a child—Tokimitsu devoted himself to faith with renewed earnestness. In the first month of 1275, Nikkō visited the grave of the late Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō on the Daishonin’s behalf; from that time on, Tokimitsu looked up to Nikkō and aided him in propagating the Daishonin’s teachings.
About thirty letters addressed to Nanjō Tokimitsu are extant, no less than eleven written during the two-year period between the Daishonin’s retirement to Minobu and the date of the present letter.
At the beginning of this letter, the Daishonin praises the sincerity of Tokimitsu’s faith, expressed in his offerings of an unlined robe, salt, and oil. Such earnestness, the Daishonin says, ultimately reflects Tokimitsu’s father’s deep faith in the Lotus Sutra and surely must please the late Nanjō.
Next, the Daishonin recounts the tale of Ōhashi no Tarō and his son. According to this story, Ōhashi no Tarō, a general in Kyushu and a descendant of the Taira clan, for some reason incurred the wrath of the shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo and was imprisoned in a cell in Kamakura for twelve years. When his son recited the Lotus Sutra out of his ardent desire to save his father, the power of his recitation moved Yoritomo to stay the execution of and pardon his father. With this story, the Daishonin points out that Tokimitsu’s sincere attitude in faith is the highest expression of filial devotion and will surely save his late father.
In conclusion, the Daishonin addresses the rumor of an impending attack by the Mongols. He emphasizes that only firm faith in the Lotus Sutra will serve as protection against this threat, and points out that, although he himself earnestly wishes to safeguard his followers, the crucial thing is whether or not they develop their own faith.
Chapter1(On the Meritorious Effects of Offerings)
I HAVE received from you one unlined robe,1 one horseload of salt, and five shō of oil.
A robe serves to protect one from the cold and the heat, to hide one’s nakedness, and to adorn one’s body. The “Medicine King” chapter in the seventh volume of the Lotus Sutra says, “. . . like a robe to one who is naked,” meaning that one [who obtains the Lotus Sutra] will be as delighted as a naked person who obtains a robe. Among the Buddha’s successors was a man named Shānavāsa who was born wearing a robe.2 This came about because, in a previous existence, he had donated a robe for the sake of Buddhism. And so it says in the Lotus Sutra, “Gentleness and patience are the robe.”3
In the K’un-lun Mountains, there are no stones, and in the Mount Minobu area, no salt. In a place where there are no stones, stones are more valuable than gems, and in a place where there is no salt, salt is more precious than rice. The gems for the ruler of a nation are his ministers of the left and right,4 and these ministers of the left and right are called the “salt and vinegar”5 of his rule. If we have no miso or salt, it is hard for us to get along from day to day, and if the nation is without ministers of the left and right, it will be poorly governed.
As for oil, the Nirvana Sutra states, “In the wind, there is no oil, and in oil, there is no wind.”6 Oil is the best medicine for curing illnesses caused by the wind.
I do not know how to thank you for the sincerity you have shown in sending these articles. In the end, it must be an indication of the depth of the late Nanjō’s faith7 in the Lotus Sutra. This is what is meant by the statement that a minister proclaims his ruler’s sincerity, while a son proclaims his father’s sincerity. The late Nanjō is probably delighted.
Notes
1. An unlined robe for summer use, made of hemp cloth or crinkled silk.
2. Shānavāsa was a wealthy man in Rājagriha, Magadha, who was the fourth of the twenty-four successors of Shakyamuni Buddha. This story is mentioned in A History of the Buddha’s Successors.
3. Lotus Sutra, chap. 10. This chapter says that those who wish to expound the Lotus Sutra after the Thus Come One’s extinction should “enter the Thus Come One’s room, put on the Thus Come One’s robe, sit in the Thus Come One’s seat . . .” The “Thus Come One’s robe,” says the sutra, “is the mind that is gentle and forbearing.” A gentle and forbearing mind enables one to uphold the Law while bearing insult with grace and equanimity. The sutra also says, “Gentleness and patience are the robe.”
4. Officials of the imperial court, responsible for protecting the imperial family and helping the emperor administer the affairs of state.
5. The two essential ingredients whose proper balance makes a delicious soup. In China and Japan the correct balance of salt and vinegar was compared to the proper functioning of ministers in aiding the ruler to govern well.
6. The Nirvana Sutra recommends the consumption of oil for treatment of illnesses caused by “the wind’s poison,” that is, by foul air. Headaches, pain in the limbs, and difficulty in moving were regarded as representative of such illnesses.
7. Nanjō is Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō (d. 1265), a lay follower of Nichiren Daishonin and the father of Nanjō Tokimitsu.