Page:Japanese Physical Training (Hancock).djvu/103

Rh many writers, that the people of Dai Nippon bathe in stagnant pools and drink impure water. To some extent the charge is true, but these hydropathic abuses are practised by only the most ignorant. From times of great antiquity the athletic samurai understood the benefit of drinking only the purest of water. It is a matter of ancient history that a samurai army, resting on its march, has sent a deputation of its men in command of a swarm of coolie porters to the nearest spring where the water was known to be wholesome. Priests were sent along to bless the waters, and it was centuries before the more or less observant coolies began to get a notion that the water of certain springs was healthful whether or not it was blessed.

Japan is thickly studded with springs in which the water is as pure as Nature can supply directly from the earth. The waters of many of these springs possess mild but excellent medicinal qualities. It is within the experience of the writer, when serving as a war correspondent in the Philippines, that Japanese mineral water shipped to Manila was most