Dozen-bo
A priest of Seicho-ji temple in Tojo Village of Awa Province, Japan, where Nichiren entered the priesthood.
Nichiren studied under Dozen-bo from age twelve.
When Nichiren first declared his teaching at Seicho-ji on the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month, 1253,
his refutation of the Nembutsu enraged Tojo Kagenobu, the steward of the village and an ardent believer in the Pure Land teachings, who ordered his arrest.
At that time, Dozen-bo quietly helped Nichiren escape. Nevertheless, Dozen-bo was afraid to oppose Kagenobu and for this reason could never bring himself to convert to Nichiren's teachings.
Nichiren, however, never forgot his teacher.
In the seventh month of 1276, learning of his death, he wrote On Repaying Debts of Gratitude as an expression of his gratitude to Dozen-bo,
and sent it to Gijo-bo and Joken-bo who had been his seniors when they were disciples to gather at Seicho-ji.
