On the Meritorious Act of Filial Devotion Chapter1
IHAVE duly received, in the numbers noted, the articles that you sent as offerings. Now that we are into the fifth month, the farmers are at their busiest, and in addition there is the matter of the rebuilding of the shrine.1 At such a busy season, how great was your kindness in thinking of those of us who are living in the mountains and sending these gifts!
Background
The year of this letter is not indicated, but it is thought to have been written in 1279. This is because there is a similar reference to farm work and the construction of a shrine in another letter written in the same month of 1279. Entitled The Unmatched Blessings of the Law and addressed to the lay priest Nishiyama, it says, “Moreover, at the present time, because of farm work and the building of the shrine, people have no spare time” (I, p. 974). The shrine mentioned in these letters is thought to be Fuji Sengen Shrine.
The lay nun of Kubo was a widow who lived with her young daughter at Kubo in Fuji District of Suruga Province. Little is known about her, but one explanation identifies her as the wife of the lay priest Takahashi Rokurō Hyōe, who died of an illness. From the contents of the several letters addressed to the lay nun, she appears to have been a believer of pure faith who frequently sent offerings to the Daishonin.
Notes
1. “The shrine” refers to Fuji Sengen Shrine in Fuji District, Suruga Province, where the lay nun of Kubo lived.