Saint of Mt. Koya
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With these words the itinerant priest clenched his fists together on the pillow and placed his forehead on them in the manner of religious ascetics.

This venerable holy man had been my travelling companion coming from Nagoya across the mountains to this wayside inn at Tsuruga on the rugged north coast of Japan. As we prepared for bed in our modest traveller's inn, it occurred to me that on the whole of our long journey, I had never once seen the priest put on the smug airs one so often sees in pious men. Nor to my knowledge did he relax even in bed, but, rather, crouched at his pillow in an attitude of prayer, as I have described.


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Intangible