Mikuni no Taifu ［三国太夫］ (d. 1258): Also known as Mikuni no Tayū. The father of Nichiren, according to The Transmission on the First Cleaning Bath written by Nikkō, Nichiren’s immediate disciple and successor. A fisherman at Kataumi in Awa Province, Japan. Nichiren publicly declared his teaching in the fourth month of 1253 at Seichō-ji temple in Awa. He left the temple immediately afterward, escaping an attack by Tōjō Kagenobu, the steward of the area and a believer of the Pure Land teachings. Before making his way to Kamakura, he first went to visit his parents and converted them to his teaching. At that time, it is said, he gave his father the Buddhist name Myōnichi (Wonderful Sun) and his mother the name Myōren (Wonderful Lotus), both of which derive from his own name, Nichiren, or Sun Lotus.