Saint of Mt. Koya
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" 'Oh don't be so modest. Look. You've already gotten your sleeve soaking wet.' With these words she snatched at my sash from behind and in a moment, despite my struggles, she had stripped off my kimono. You should know that I had done my religious training in a very strict sect, and as a form of austerity, I had never taken my clothes off from the time I had become a priest. Now here I was stripped naked as a snail without its shell, and in front of a woman no less. I was mortified with shame. All I could do was crouch over and keep my legs together as best I could. Meanwhile the woman nonchalantly hung my kimono on the branch of a nearby tree.

" 'I'll leave your kimono here,' she said. 'Now let me attend to your back. You gave me a very nice compliment a little while ago when you called me Miss, so I will repay the favor now. Hold still.'

"Holding back one of her long sleeves with her teeth, she placed both her beautiful hands on my back, but seeing the condition it was in, she hesitated, saying, 'My goodness, what's this?'

" 'What's the matter?' I asked.

" 'It looks like bruises all over your back.'

" 'Oh yes, those. I had a very difficult trip.' As I spoke I relived the horror of the leeches."


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Intangible