The Way to Minobu

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In the end my lot will no doubt be to wander Japan alone. But if I do stay here I would like it very much if you would visit.

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  1. The Way to Minobu

The Way to Minobu

Background

NO words can describe this famine. Not even a single measure of rice is for sale. We will surely starve to death. I will send back all of these priests and stay here alone.1 Please explain the situation to the priests.

On the twelfth day we reached Sakawa, on the thirteenth day Takenoshita, on the fourteenth day Kurumagaeshi, on the fifteenth Ōmiya, on the sixteenth Nambu, and on the seventeenth this place.

Though I am still undecided, because this location in the mountains is for the most part satisfactory to me, it is likely that I will remain here for a while. In the end my lot will no doubt be to wander Japan alone. But if I do stay here I would like it very much if you would visit.

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

The seventeenth day

To Toki

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Background

Written on the seventeenth day of the fifth month in 1274, the day he reached Minobu after leaving Kamakura five days earlier, this letter to Toki Jōnin served as a notice of Nichiren Daishonin’s safe arrival. The Daishonin had just returned in the third month of the year from his exile to Sado Island. After saying that he is sending back to Kamakura the priests who accompanied him on his journey, he briefly describes that journey, and notes that he will probably remain at Minobu for some time.

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Note

1. This passage can also be interpreted as follows: “I will send back all of these priests and have just one stay here.”

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