Gyochi
A lay priest and a member of the ruling Hojoclan in Japan during the time of Nichiren (1222-1282). Though not ordained, he acted as the deputy chief priest of Ryusen-ji, a temple of the Tendai school in Atsuhara Village of Suruga Province.
His full name and title were Hei no Sakon NyudoGyochi.
He privatized some of the temple's property, extracted bribes from a thief he made a priest and allowed him to reside at the temple, and had farmers of his parish hunt and cook quails, raccoon dogs, and deer, and serve the meat to him at the chief priest's quarters. Nikko, later Nichiren's successor, converted several priests of the temple, including Nisshu, Nichiben, and Nichizen, to Nichiren's teaching.
This angered Gyochi, who unlawfully instigated official harassment of Nichiren's followers that led to the imprisonment of twenty of them, all farmers. They were sent to Kamakura, where three of them were beheaded and the others banished from Atsuhara in 1279. These acts of oppression became known collectively as the Atsuhara Persecution.
See also Atsuhara Persecution.
