Now it is the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration. Those who should be saved by Hinayāna and provisional Mahāyāna teachings have disappeared, leaving only those who should be saved by the True Mahāyāna teaching.

You cannot load a big rock on a small boat. Evil and ignorant people are like huge rocks. Such teachings as Hinayāna and provisional Mahāyāna 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 142.