Now it is the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration. Those who should be saved by Hinayana and provisional Mahayana teachings have disappeared, leaving only those who should be saved by the True Mahayana teaching. You cannot load a big rock on a small boat. Evil and ignorant people are like huge rocks. Such teachings as Hinayana and provisional Mahayana sūtras and the nembutsu are like a small boat. A large malignant scab cannot be cured easily because it is a severe sickness. For us in the Latter Age of Degeneration, nembutsu is like cultivating a rice field in winter. The time is not at all right.

Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 130-131