Yesterday, our Chief Priest, Rev Sakabe, conducted the Otanjo-e Ceremony, to celebrate our Founder, Nichiren Daishonin’s birthday. It is a tradition to offer food to the Buddha. For this ceremony, a special celebratory dish was offered called “Sekihan” in Japanese. It uses red rice because Japanese regard red as a joyful color. The dish is made with red rice and beans.
Nichiren Daishonin, the founder of Nichiren Shoshu in 13th century Japan, received many food offerings from believers. We know this because of the many personal Gosho letters he sent to believers thanking them for their food offerings.
