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:
“There is an old saying which, from its truth, has become proverbial, that friendships should be immortal, enmities mortal.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“Our friendships hurry to short and poor conclusions, because we have made them a texture of wine and dreams, instead of the tough fibre of the human heart. The laws of friendship are austere and eternal, of one web with the laws of nature and of morals.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Then if my friendships break and bend,
There’s little need to cry
The while I know that every foe
Is faithful till I die.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)