When housing developers threatened the mountainside behind Kamakura's famous Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, he banded together with a number of famous literati and artists (including Hideo Kobayashi, Nagai Tatsuo, Yasunari Kawabata, Riichi Yokomitsu, Itō Shinsui, Kiyokata Kaburagi), residing in Kamakura to oppose the development.
Two yagura are dedicated to Hōjō Masako and her son Minamoto no Sanetomo, who was assassinated while still young by nephew Kugyō on the stairs of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū.
It is said that, on September 12, 1271 Nichiren, arrested in his hut in Nagoe and on his way to the execution ground in Tatsunokuchi to be beheaded, turned to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū and yelled: "Hachiman Bosatsu, if you are a kami, give me a sign for the sake of Buddhism!"