HE is working hard for me.1 No flattery is intended, for truly he has great abilities. I have plans to send him to Etchū with Āchārya Daishin in the first month of next year. I have received one white quilted robe from you. This year, not only has the entire land of Japan been suffering from famine, but in the province of Sado, due to the locusts that poured down abruptly from the heavens from the seventh day of the seventh month onward, and to the rain, in one stroke the rice crop and other grains were ruined. Furthermore, epidemics have been raging in various places, so I fear that it is difficult for people to escape death. It is hard to say all that I might wish of these things in a letter.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
The third day of the eleventh month
Reply to Toki
Background
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter from Sado Island, where he had been sent in his second exile, on the third day of the eleventh month in 1273. In the letter he expresses his gratitude to Toki Jōnin, who had just sent him a white quilted robe. The Daishonin was entering his third winter on the island, where the winters were harsh. He touches upon the famine besetting the entire nation and describes the distress caused by the epidemics and crop failures occurring on Sado.