Generally speaking, in the Latter Age of Degeneration sages and wise persons seem to disappear while only those who lie to reduce a person to despair, those who flatter, those who praise outwardly but slander behind one’s back, and those who make wild claims fill the country. This is like a pond clamoring with the sound of fish as the amount of water diminishes, or how a great ocean is no longer silent when a strong wind blows. What is more, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, evil phenomena such as droughts, epidemics, heavy rains, and violent winds are expected to occur one after another. Therefore, it seems that even broad minds become narrow and even those seeking the way of the Buddha become people with erroneous views. Putting aside those not related to us for now, in the Latter Age conflicts with parents, between husbands and wives, and among siblings occur as if they were between a hunter and a deer, a cat and a rat, or a hawk and a pheasant.

Hyōesakan-dono Gosho, Letter to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 89