the time of seven lives." Such a disowning is called shichi-sho
made no mando, a disinheritance for seven lives,--signifying that
in six future lives after the present the erring son or daughter
will continue to feel the parental displeasure.

4 The profession is not yet extinct. The ninsomi uses a kind of
magnifying glass (or magnifying-mirror sometimes), called
tengankyo or ninsomegane.


IV

Now there was a man called Tomozo, who lived in a small cottage
adjoining Shinzaburo's residence, Tomozo and his wife O-Mine were
both employed by Shinzaburo as servants. Both seemed to be
devoted to their young master; and by his help they were able to
live in comparative comfort.

One night, at a very late hour, Tomozo heard the voice of a woman
in his master's apartment; and this made him uneasy. He feared
that Shinzaburo, being very gentle and affectionate, might be
made the dupe of some cunning wanton,--in which event the
domestics would be the first to suffer. He therefore resolved to
watch; and on the following night he stole on tiptoe to
Shinzaburo's dwelling, and looked through a chink in one of the
sliding shutters. By the glow of a night-lantern within the
sleeping-room, he was able to perceive that his master and a
strange woman were talking together under the mosquito-net. At
first he could not see the woman distinctly. Her back was turned
to him;--he only observed that she was very slim, and that she