I Am Also Suffering From Inflammation Produced By The Bites
Of "Horse Ants," Which Attack One In Walking.
The Japanese suffer
very much from these, and a neglected bite often produces an
intractable ulcer.
Besides these, there is a fly, as harmless in
appearance as our house-fly, which bites as badly as a mosquito.
These are some of the drawbacks of Japanese travelling in summer,
but worse than these is the lack of such food as one can eat when
one finishes a hard day's journey without appetite, in an
exhausting atmosphere.
July 18. - I have had so much pain and fever from stings and bites
that last night I was glad to consult a Japanese doctor from
Shinjo. Ito, who looks twice as big as usual when he has to do any
"grand" interpreting, and always puts on silk hakama in honour of
it, came in with a middle-aged man dressed entirely in silk, who
prostrated himself three times on the ground, and then sat down on
his heels. Ito in many words explained my calamities, and Dr.
Nosoki then asked to see my "honourable hand," which he examined
carefully, and then my "honourable foot." He felt my pulse and
looked at my eyes with a magnifying glass, and with much sucking in
of his breath - a sign of good breeding and politeness - informed me
that I had much fever, which I knew before; then that I must rest,
which I also knew; then he lighted his pipe and contemplated me.
Then he felt my pulse and looked at my eyes again, then felt the
swelling from the hornet bite, and said it was much inflamed, of
which I was painfully aware, and then clapped his hands three
times. At this signal a coolie appeared, carrying a handsome black
lacquer chest with the same crest in gold upon it as Dr. Nosoki
wore in white on his haori. This contained a medicine chest of
fine gold lacquer, fitted up with shelves, drawers, bottles, etc.
He compounded a lotion first, with which he bandaged my hand and
arm rather skilfully, telling me to pour the lotion over the
bandage at intervals till the pain abated. The whole was covered
with oiled paper, which answers the purpose of oiled silk. He then
compounded a febrifuge, which, as it is purely vegetable, I have
not hesitated to take, and told me to drink it in hot water, and to
avoid sake for a day or two!
I asked him what his fee was, and, after many bows and much
spluttering and sucking in of his breath, he asked if I should
think half a yen too much, and when I presented him with a yen, and
told him with a good deal of profound bowing on my part that I was
exceedingly glad to obtain his services, his gratitude quite
abashed me by its immensity.
Dr. Nosoki is one of the old-fashioned practitioners, whose medical
knowledge has been handed down from father to son, and who holds
out, as probably most of his patients do, against European methods
and drugs. A strong prejudice against surgical operations,
specially amputations, exists throughout Japan. With regard to the
latter, people think that, as they came into the world complete, so
they are bound to go out of it, and in many places a surgeon would
hardly be able to buy at any price the privilege of cutting off an
arm.
Except from books these older men know nothing of the mechanism of
the human body, as dissection is unknown to native science. Dr.
Nosoki told me that he relies mainly on the application of the moxa
and on acupuncture in the treatment of acute diseases, and in
chronic maladies on friction, medicinal baths, certain animal and
vegetable medicines, and certain kinds of food. The use of leeches
and blisters is unknown to him, and he regards mineral drugs with
obvious suspicion. He has heard of chloroform, but has never seen
it used, and considers that in maternity it must necessarily be
fatal either to mother or child. He asked me (and I have twice
before been asked the same question) whether it is not by its use
that we endeavour to keep down our redundant population! He has
great faith in ginseng, and in rhinoceros horn, and in the powdered
liver of some animal, which, from the description, I understood to
be a tiger - all specifics of the Chinese school of medicines. Dr.
Nosoki showed me a small box of "unicorn's" horn, which he said was
worth more than its weight in gold! As my arm improved
coincidently with the application of his lotion, I am bound to give
him the credit of the cure.
I invited him to dinner, and two tables were produced covered with
different dishes, of which he ate heartily, showing most singular
dexterity with his chopsticks in removing the flesh of small, bony
fish. It is proper to show appreciation of a repast by noisy
gulpings, and much gurgling and drawing in of the breath.
Etiquette rigidly prescribes these performances, which are most
distressing to a European, and my guest nearly upset my gravity by
them.
The host and the kocho, or chief man of the village, paid me a
formal visit in the evening, and Ito, en grande tenue, exerted
himself immensely on the occasion. They were much surprised at my
not smoking, and supposed me to be under a vow! They asked me many
questions about our customs and Government, but frequently reverted
to tobacco.
I. L. B.
LETTER XX
The Effect of a Chicken - Poor Fare - Slow Travelling - Objects of
Interest - Kak'ke - The Fatal Close - A Great Fire - Security of the
Kuras.
SHINGOJI, July 21.
Very early in the morning, after my long talk with the Kocho of
Kanayama, Ito wakened me by saying, "You'll be able for a long
day's journey to-day, as you had a chicken yesterday," and under
this chicken's marvellous influence we got away at 6.45, only to
verify the proverb, "The more haste the worse speed." Unsolicited
by me the Kocho sent round the village to forbid the people from
assembling, so I got away in peace with a pack-horse and one
runner.
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