first made Japan the centre of the universe, and then brought religion
down to the lowest. He considered that the period in which he lived was
the latter day of the law, and that all creatures ought to share in the
merit of Buddha-hood. Only the original Buddha is the real moon in the
sky, but all Buddhas of the subordinate states are like the images of
the moon, reflected upon the waters. All these different Buddhas, be
they gods or men, beasts, birds or snakes, are to be honored. Indeed,
they are both honored and worshipped in the Nichiren pantheon. Besides
the historic Buddha, this sect, which is the most idolatrous of all,
admits as objects of its reverence such personages as Nichiren, the
founder; Kato Kiyomasa, the general who led the army of invasion in
Korea and was the persecutor of the Christians; and Shichimen--a word
which means seven points of the compass or seven faces. This Shichimen
is the being that appeared to Nichiren as a beautiful woman, but
disappeared from his sight in the form of a snake, twenty feet long,
covered with golden scales and armed with iron teeth. It is now deified
under the name meaning the Great God of the Seven Faces, and is
identified with the Hindoo deity Siva.

Another idol usually seen in the Nichiren temples is Mioken. Under this
name the pole star is worshipped, usually in the form of a Buddha with a
wheel of a Buddha elect. Standing on a tortoise, with a sword in his
right hand, and with the left hand half open--a gesture which symbolizes
the male and female principles in the physical world, and the
intelligence and the law in the spiritual world--Mioken is a striking
figure. Indeed, the list of glorified animals reminds us somewhat of the
ancient beast-worship of Egypt. In the Nichiren hierology, it is as
though the symbolical figures in the Book of Revelation had been deified
and worshipped. It is evident that all the creatures in that Buddhist
chamber of imagery, the Hokke Ki[=o], that could possibly be made into
gods have received apotheosis. The very book itself is also worshipped,
for the Nichirenites are extreme believers in verbal inspiration, and
pay divine honors to each jot and tittle of the sutra, which to them is
a god. They adore also the triad of the three precious ones, the Buddha,
the Rule or Discipline, and the Organization; or, Being, Law, and
Church. The hideous idol, Fudo, "Eleven-faced," "Horse-headed,"
"Thousand-handed," or girt in a robe of fiery flam