In the Imperial Palace at Tokyo the cypress bathtub was prepared. To disperse the evil spirits loud plangent sounds were made by a general and three viscounts twanging bowstrings. A screen was set up behind the tub and behind the screen knelt Dr. Ichimura and Dr. Mikami —savants equivalent in Japan to the President of Harvard and the President of Yale. Into the tub went the Empire's nameless, seven-day-old Crown Prince (TIME, Jan. 1). While he was washed, the voices of the savants reading from ancient books were louder than the bowstrings. Clean...
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