Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan, volume 2.pdf/125

Rh water was so hot that it was painful even to dip one’s finger into it. The disciple knew well that if the Naigu put his nose directly into such hot water, the heat of the steam might cause some severe burns to his face. They therefore decided to make a hole in the lid of this vessel, and through it the Naigu would put his nose gradually into the boiling water. So the experiment began, and strange to say, as the nose was only partly dipped at first into the water, he felt no pain at all.

After he had been holding it there for a short time the disciple asked:

“Surely your nose must be already boiled?”

The Naigu smiled bitterly, for he thought that if anyone should overhear such a remark, he would never comprehend its strange meaning. After his nose had been boiled for a time, it began to itch terribly, and felt as if insects were biting it all over.

As soon as the Naigu removed his nose from the water, the disciple began to press it with his feet. As he did so, a great deal of steam rose from it. The Naigu lay flat on the floor, his nose stretched out before him, and he patiently watched the disciple’s feet as they moved up and down. Sometimes the latter, with a deep look of sympathy, glanced down at the Naigu’s bald head, and remarked.

“Do you feel no aching?—The doctor told me to continue pressing until it was entirely reduced in size.—But, doesn’t it ache?” [sic]

But while his nose was being pounded in such a