Nikken Abe - Personal History Before Becoming High Priest

Personal History Before Becoming High Priest

Born Shinobu (信夫), Abe was the first son of Hōun Abe, then the chief priest of Jōsen-ji in Sumida, Tokyo, and later 60th Nichiren Shoshu High Priest Nichikai. He tonsured (entered the priesthood) in 1928, taking the Buddhist name Shinno (信雄). He graduated from Risshō University in 1943 and, after his return from navy duty, served as chief priest of three major local temples, Hongyō-ji (Tokyo, 1947), Heian-ji (Kyōto, 1963), and later Jōsen-ji (Tokyo). He was appointed head of the school's Kyōgakubu (a section responsible for doctrinal study and maintenance of orthodoxy, often rendered Study Department) in 1961. In this position, he was one of the two Nichiren Shoshu priests who traveled overseas to conduct the first initiation rites (gokjukai) for new believers outside Japan in 1961, for which the contemporary high priest gave him the name Etsuyo (越洋: "he who crosses the seas"). Abe was named Nichiren Shoshu Sōkan (the school's second-highest ranking priest) in early 1979. He took over as high priest shortly after the passing of the previous high priest, Nittatsu Hosoi, on July 22, 1979. At the time, he changed his nichi-gō (the name beginning with nichi that all priests have but use publicly only after attaining a certain seniority) from Nichiji (日慈) to Nikken (日顕) in deference to a more-senior priest who is the next high priest,　Nichinyo's father of the same name.

On Sunday, December 4, 2005, Abe announced his intention to step down as high priest before the end of the year. He performed the ceremony of transferral of the Heritage of the Law on December 12, 2005, in which he appointed Nichinyo Hayase (1935-) as his successor. He officially retired on December 15—four days before his 83rd birthday after a total of 26 years as high priest. Sixty-eighth High Priest Nichinyo Shōnin ascended the high priest's seat at a ceremony on December 16.