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Reply to Ko Nyudo

BACKGROUND:

This letter is thought to have been written at Minobu in 1275, on the twelfth day of the fourth month. There are only two extant Gosho addressed to Ko Nyudo and his wife, Ka-no-ama-this letter and "Letter to Ko-no-ama Gozen" (Major Writings, Vol. 4, P. 139)-and very few clues remain about what sort of persons they were.

Because they lived in the town where the government of Sado Province was located, the husband was known as Ko Nyudo-the lay priest (nyudo) who lives in the seat of the provincial government (Ko). Although this letter was written to both of them, the contents-in particular, Nichiren Daishonin's praise of the fact that Ko-no-ama had sent her husband such a long way to visit him-suggest that it was directed toward her.

During the Daishonin's exile on Sado Island, Ko Nyudo and his wife protected him and presented him with offerings, even though by doing so they were putting themselves at risk with the local authorities. And after the Daishonin had gone to live in minobu, Ko Nyudo made the demanding journey from Satio-the trip was a perilous one-to visit him there.

The numerous ways in which the couple exerted themselves for the sake of the Daishonin during his exile on Sado Island are described in greater detail in "Letter to Ko-no-ama Gozen."

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