forced pretext that he could not conduct any frostbite research until it started snowing again, he transferred all of his personal belongings there. The fact that he was spending the greater part of each day examining Yuki underscored just how much he had wagered on his new subject.
Life in the cabin in Uryunuma was a life for two, Yuhki and Yuki alone, and appeared peculiar even to sole sympathizer Sugita. The hope, of course, was that the patient would remember something. Her ability to navigate the woods without losing her way indeed suggested familiarity with the locale, but there were no fresh discoveries.
At the same time, the doctor noted, “The climate here seems well suited to Yuki, and her condition has clearly improved.” It appears that he attributed Yuki’s better health to the higher humidity, in particular, of the marshland environment dotted with ponds.
It was around that time that Yuhki received a letter from another physician, one Shohei Higashino, who lived on the shore of Lake Mashu. The letter indicated that Higashino had read Yuhki’s paper and that he wished to bring to the researcher’s attention a case with similar symptoms he had encountered.
Yuhki, his interest aroused, visited Higashino together with his patient, with Sugita accompanying as her nurse. The mountainous area near Lake Mashu where Higashino operated his clinic was, Yuhkiobserved, “surprisingly similar to Shinjo.” On this point his impression was identical to Sugita’s, as she later testified that “Walking along the mountain paths, it was almost as if we were in Shinjo.”
A bearded Dr. Higashino, aged forty-three, came out to meet the guests. Sugita well remembered the look on his face upon seeing Yuki. His surprise at how much she resembled his own patient was enough to lead Yuhki to a certain theory: “Perhaps the deceased that Dr. Higashino had cared for belonged to Yuki’s clan.”
The journal provides a summary of the conversation with Dr. Higashino: “The case occurred twenty-one years ago and also involved a white-haired woman who had been brought in after collapsing during a snowstorm. Although her body temperature was extremely low, she was in command of her senses, and from the outset he felt that he was dealing with peculiar symptoms. At the time he thought her to be in her teens, but no clear answers were forthcoming no matter what he asked. Strangely, her temperature, which had been low upon her admission, began to rise little by little, and she succumbed to arrhythmia six months later. No autopsy was performed, nor was the case ever reported. Unfortunately, no detailed records remain.”
It was Yuhki and Sugita’s turn to be surprised when Dr. Higashino, saying that it was the only memento of his deceased patient, brought out an asshi woven in a manner identical to Yuki’s. After examining it, Yuhki pulled out from the fabric a small, dried-up red fruit belonging to the redbark Manchurian ash; he proceeded to edify Higashino just as he himself had been schooled in Ichiyan. While Higashino knew of the tree, he said that none in the area ever bore red fruit, and he was duly surprised by what Yuhki told him.
Yuhki remarked in his journal, “When we connect the dots that are the redbark’s fruit, it is highly likely that the deceased belonged to Yuki’s clan and that she wore an asshi produced in the same manner as Yuki’s.”
Behind the clinic, accompanied by Sugita and Yuki, he brought his palms together at the grave for the unknown woman who had fallenmid-journey, and it was there that Higashino informed them that she had been rumored by the villagers to be a snow woman’s heir. This, too, mirrored Yuki’s predicament.
Wrote Yuhki, “Many settlers there had come from the Hakuba region in Nagano Prefecture, but they, too, told of the snow woman, albeit differently than in Shinjo, and I had to wonder if the legend might not have some connection with Yuki’s clan.”
He went on to record the
Life in the cabin in Uryunuma was a life for two, Yuhki and Yuki alone, and appeared peculiar even to sole sympathizer Sugita. The hope, of course, was that the patient would remember something. Her ability to navigate the woods without losing her way indeed suggested familiarity with the locale, but there were no fresh discoveries.
At the same time, the doctor noted, “The climate here seems well suited to Yuki, and her condition has clearly improved.” It appears that he attributed Yuki’s better health to the higher humidity, in particular, of the marshland environment dotted with ponds.
It was around that time that Yuhki received a letter from another physician, one Shohei Higashino, who lived on the shore of Lake Mashu. The letter indicated that Higashino had read Yuhki’s paper and that he wished to bring to the researcher’s attention a case with similar symptoms he had encountered.
Yuhki, his interest aroused, visited Higashino together with his patient, with Sugita accompanying as her nurse. The mountainous area near Lake Mashu where Higashino operated his clinic was, Yuhkiobserved, “surprisingly similar to Shinjo.” On this point his impression was identical to Sugita’s, as she later testified that “Walking along the mountain paths, it was almost as if we were in Shinjo.”
A bearded Dr. Higashino, aged forty-three, came out to meet the guests. Sugita well remembered the look on his face upon seeing Yuki. His surprise at how much she resembled his own patient was enough to lead Yuhki to a certain theory: “Perhaps the deceased that Dr. Higashino had cared for belonged to Yuki’s clan.”
The journal provides a summary of the conversation with Dr. Higashino: “The case occurred twenty-one years ago and also involved a white-haired woman who had been brought in after collapsing during a snowstorm. Although her body temperature was extremely low, she was in command of her senses, and from the outset he felt that he was dealing with peculiar symptoms. At the time he thought her to be in her teens, but no clear answers were forthcoming no matter what he asked. Strangely, her temperature, which had been low upon her admission, began to rise little by little, and she succumbed to arrhythmia six months later. No autopsy was performed, nor was the case ever reported. Unfortunately, no detailed records remain.”
It was Yuhki and Sugita’s turn to be surprised when Dr. Higashino, saying that it was the only memento of his deceased patient, brought out an asshi woven in a manner identical to Yuki’s. After examining it, Yuhki pulled out from the fabric a small, dried-up red fruit belonging to the redbark Manchurian ash; he proceeded to edify Higashino just as he himself had been schooled in Ichiyan. While Higashino knew of the tree, he said that none in the area ever bore red fruit, and he was duly surprised by what Yuhki told him.
Yuhki remarked in his journal, “When we connect the dots that are the redbark’s fruit, it is highly likely that the deceased belonged to Yuki’s clan and that she wore an asshi produced in the same manner as Yuki’s.”
Behind the clinic, accompanied by Sugita and Yuki, he brought his palms together at the grave for the unknown woman who had fallenmid-journey, and it was there that Higashino informed them that she had been rumored by the villagers to be a snow woman’s heir. This, too, mirrored Yuki’s predicament.
Wrote Yuhki, “Many settlers there had come from the Hakuba region in Nagano Prefecture, but they, too, told of the snow woman, albeit differently than in Shinjo, and I had to wonder if the legend might not have some connection with Yuki’s clan.”
He went on to record the
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