the items codes and organizing them. The actual notepads are still at Toyo University. While referring to these, as Tanaka said, Enryō re-produced his memories for dictation and completed the more than two hundred pages that made up Lectures on Mystery Studies. It is said that when he organized and conceptually structured these materials he became completely absorbed in concentration. and focus, but when he was single-mindedly thinking about a particular matter no amount of clatter nearby would disturb him. Even if someone tried to talk to him, he did not seem to hear and would not respond. Whenever his wife saw him in this state of concentration, she would say, “He has gone off into thinking mode again!” Enryō defines yōkai (a mystery) as “an abnormality, an aberration, a thing that cannot be understood by reason, a thing that can be clas-sified as an “enigma.” To put it another way, it is a combination of an enigma and an abnormality.” Further, Enryō points out that yōkai differ depending on the person or society. That the existence or non-existence of a yōkai is not to be found in a thing but rather in a person. It is people’s own individual ideas that create the standard for defin-ing something as a yōkai. Therefore, he says, “The purpose of mys-tery studies is to thoroughly investigate the nature of yōkai and pro-vide explanations for them.” Mr. Enryō was particularly talented in his ability to concentrate What is “Mystery Studies”? 103
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