One of Enryō’s acquaintances at the time commented on his mind state as follows. In early December of Meiji 37 [1905] I was working as a news-paper reporter when I received a letter from Professor Enryō. It read, “In the near future, if there is anyone attacking the school, please do not engage with them.” I thought that for a psychologically hurting. American yōkai researcher Lafcadio HEARN (a.k.a KOIZUMI Yakumo) wrote on his impressions of Enryō after having met and talked with him in Matsue, Shimane prefecture, saying, “He is a very gentlemanly person.” Many people that knew Enryō said they had never seen him angry. He was a moderate man, but he knew he was at the center of the problem. In a group photo taken in 1904 at the Aichi Prefecture Philosophy Academy Alumni Association meeting his face appeared dark and depressed, unlike all of the other photographs of him. En-ryō used the words “dark tide” to describe himself at this time. Per-haps he meant to say he was stuck in a sea of darkness. He had been driven into a corner, unable to move left or right, spending his days with a distressed and conflicted heart. It appears that his mental state eventually started to eat away at him physically. From the summer of that year Enryō was already showing signs of physical and psychological illness. The extent of the problem was such that “half a day’s work required half a day’s rest, and just a little “Weakness of the Nerves” Academy, or if anyone tries to contribute articles about the man with such a large and generous heart he must have been 149
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