Friendships
In October 1839, Goryo married a daughter of Umetaro Ikenaga in Yuasa at the age of 20. After staying in Hiro-mura for another six months, he came back to Choshi via Edo in the following spring. By the time, he already mastered techniques of various martial arts, especially for swordsmanship. In addition, thanks to efforts he put in for general studies and fine arts earlier, he was very good at composing and writing poems. He accidentally met Gonsai Miyake, who became his mentor and friend for life, in his academic quest and physical training. Gonsai was originally from Shimabara in Hizen (current Nagasaki prefecture) and devoted himself in medical study since his birth in 1817 (Bunka-14). He studied science introduced to Japan by Dutch in Nagasaki and later moved to Edo. At that time, people were debating Chinese medicine and Western medicine, until the feudal government ruled in favor of Chinese medicine because of its similar environment to Japanese. Western medicine was prohibited until the following March.
Read more about this topic: Goryo Hamaguchi
Famous quotes containing the word friendships:
“The thing that makes our friendships so short and changeable is that the qualities and dispositions of the soul are very hard to know, and those of the understanding and wit very easy.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“A man’s friendships are, like his will, invalidated by marriage—but they are also no less invalidated by the marriage of his friends.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“There is an old saying which, from its truth, has become proverbial, that friendships should be immortal, enmities mortal.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)