sneer.
When he
wrote the
book he
had
already
lived most
of his
adult life
in the
United
States and
in Europe
but he
felt as
strongly
as if he
were still
living in
his home
town in
rural
Aichi. He
was the
youngest
child of a
landowner
of good
standing
and had
been most
lovingly
reared in
a charming
home.
Toward the
end of his
childhood
his mother
died, and,
not long
after, his
father
became
bankrupt
and sold
all his
property
to pay his
debts. The
