In 1222, Nichiren Daishonin was born in Japan. At age twelve, Nichiren Daishonin entered a Buddhist temple and, at sixteen, was ordained a priest. Nichiren Daishonin assiduously studied the teachings of Shakyamuni, T'ien T'ai and Dengyo.
Nichiren Daishonin realized that the Lotus sutra was the teaching that would relieve the people of their suffering in the Latter Day of the Law, an immensely long peoiod of time that was predicted to begin approximately 2,000 years after Shakyamuni's death.