Hulled Wheat
HOW grateful I was for your wife’s visit, something I had not imagined while awake or in dreams! It was an act of the greatest kindness. And taros at this time of year1 are as rare as bamboo shoots in winter—as rare, in fact, as summertime snow!
I have duly received one sack of hulled wheat, one basket of taros, and two bamboo shoots that you sent.
The twenty-eighth day of the fifth month
Background
The year and recipient of this letter are unknown, but the woman who visited Nichiren Daishonin with offerings of food apparently lived in a place not very distant from where he was staying. The Daishonin is especially pleased with her gift of taros, which he says are as rare as “bamboo shoots in winter” or snow in summer. From the nature of the offerings it seems that the Daishonin resided at Minobu at the time.
Note
1. The date of this letter, the end of the fifth month in the old lunar calendar, would correspond to late June or early July by today’s calendar. Taros are usually harvested in autumn.