his lord’s body. The liver was considered the seat of the spirit.
5. The lord of Kamakura is another name for Hojo Tokimune (1251–1284), the eighth regent of the Kamakura government.
6. The reference to the god of the moon indicates the bright object that appeared in the sky just prior to the Daishonin’s scheduled execution, which frightened his executioners to the extent that they aborted their attempt on his life. It is generally thought that this was a meteor.
Regarding the reference to the god of the stars, the Daishonin records in his work The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra that, while he was confined at Homma’s residence in Echi, a luminous object fell from the sky and struck the branches of a plum tree before him. It is not clear what this was, though it may have been a lightningrelated electrical discharge—the Daishonin mentions a thunder-like roar and strong winds in his description.
