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who ate nothing but boiled flour, and refused to accept money 

 from her patients. Her fame was so great, that hundreds of 

 people came from far and near to obtain some medicine from 

 her. And queer medicine it was, for in reality it was nothing at 

 all. After a patient had told her his complaint, she went inside, 

 put a rush mat upon her head, and after having thus meditated 

 for a while she came out of the house and gave an imaginary 

 medicine to the patient, saying: "Here are doses for seven days. 

 Only if you believe in me and think that you swallow medicine, 

 it certainly shall have a good effect. If it has no result within 

 seven days, you must come back". If the person followed her 

 advice, he actually recovered. It was no wonder that the patients 

 flocked together from all quarters. As she was busy from morning 

 till night, she distributed charms, with "Namu Amida Butsu" 

 or something of the kind written on them and marked with her 

 stamp, instead of keeping the longer procedure which she had 

 followed in the beginning. If anybody tried to deceive her, she 

 immediately discovered this. She was such a wonderful being, 

 that there were people who proposed to buy her for seven 

 hundred ryo (from the villagers?) and to take her to the capital, 

 but this was prevented by the authorities. Her strange food gave 

 rise to the suspicion as to her being possessed by a tanuki, 

 especially because she used to eat with her face hidden in the 

 vessel. Others supposed her to be the mother of Ho-kun ( iSQ ^ , 

 Lord Salted Fish[?]), or the wife of the "Great King with the 

 straw sandals" ', i. e. one of the M-o '\ But the physician of the 

 place was of another opinion. He said to Hotta, the author of 

 the Sanshu kidan hohen: "This old woman is assisted by some 

 water-demon. I have often heard the villagers tell that she 

 'purifies herself ^ as she calls it, twice a day, going into the 

 pond and repeatedly diving under water, so that even her 

 head is not visible. After having spoken with several patients 

 she washes her head with well water, and if her head is not 

 wet, she cannot see her patients. She certainly is a creature 

 connected with the pond, be it a river-otter or a dragon-snake. 

 Some thirty or forty years ago, when her husband was still 

 alive, one winter there came a Buddhist nun and lodged in their 

 house, who washed clothes and served not only for herself but 

 also for others. Thenceforth she stayed there every month for 



1 ^ J^ -^ ^, So-ai tai-o. 



a-fr^. 3;^||7;^Jly. -^"ri wo torn. 



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