At the end of a very sick year our thoughts turn to healing.
¡°Genji, who was suffering from a recurrent fever, had all sorts of spells cast and healing rites done, but to no avail.¡±
¡°Naturally,¡± we say today. ¡°Of what avail can spells and rites possibly be?¡± We look to doctors and scientists for cures. We would have seemed very strange to the Japanese of the Heian Period (794-1185). Healing divorced from Taoist lore and Buddhist prayer would have drawn as much scorn from them as their invocations and exorcisms do from us.
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