Out of his concern as a religious leader, Nichiren, who lived in Kamakura at the time, wrote the treatise at Jisso-ji Temple (in present-day Fuji City) in Suruga Province, following his "Shugo Kokka-ron" (Treatise on the Protection of the Nation) published the previous year, to present his arguments on political and religious ideals to Tokiyori HOJO, who was the actual leader of the Kamakura Shogunate government at the time.
当時鎌倉にいた日蓮は立正安国論撰述の前年『守護国家論』を撰述したのに続いて、宗教家としての憂慮から政治・宗教のあるべき姿を当時鎌倉幕府の事実上の最高指導者である北条時頼に提示するために駿河国実相寺(富士市)に籠って執筆した。