Tsukahara Debate ［塚原問答］ ( Tsukahara-mondō): A debate between Nichiren and priests of several other schools that took place at Tsukahara during his exile on Sado, an island in the Sea of Japan, on the sixteenth day of the first month in 1272. It is described in detail in Nichiren’s writing The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra. According to this document, the priests of Sado went in a group to Homma Rokurō Saemon, the deputy constable of Sado Island who had custody of Nichiren, and asked to have Nichiren killed. Homma refused, explaining that Nichiren was under his charge, and suggested that they instead confront him in religious debate. Following Homma’s suggestion, several hundred priests of the Pure Land ( Jōdo), True Word (Shingon), and other schools from both Sado and Japan’s mainland gathered in the snow in front of Nichiren’s lodging. Nichiren, after quelling some initial disorder and name-calling, refuted their statements, pointing out the contradictory assertions and scriptural incompatibilities contained in their doctrines. Several of them, along with their lay followers, renounced their former beliefs on the spot and converted to Nichiren’s teachings.