Shichimen Daimyojin is the guardian deity of Kuonji, the headquarters of Nichirenshu, which is in Yamanashi Prefecture. Legend holds that a young lady, beautifully dressed, often appeared out of nowhere when Priest Nichiren was reciting the Lotus Sutra in Kuonji and she enthusiastically listened to his recitation. One day, the Priest asked her who she was. She said she was a celestial nymph living in a pond near Mt. Shichimen [next to Mount Minobu] and would like to get salvation from various sins and agonies through listening to his Lotus Sutra. But, Priest Nichiren had known who she was. When Nichiren put a vase in front of her, her reflection on the vase revealed that she was a red dragon. Priest Nichiren instructed her to get back to the pond and to be a guardian deity of Kuonji. Hearing this, the red dragon went back to the pond. Ever since, she or the red dragon became a guardian deity of Kuonji, guarding at the southwestern corner (believed to be the rear Demon's Gate) of the temple.
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