Note 7 — Chapter XXXIII
Reading edition
Great numbers of the Japanese musicians, as Kämpfer tells us in another place, are blind men, who constitute a sort of order or society which boasts as its legendary founder a certain general of the family of the Heiji, who, at the time of the civil war which ended in the destruction of that family, was taken prisoner by Yoritomo. Notwithstanding repeated attempts at escape, he was very kindly treated, and was pressed to enter into the service of his captor. But, not being able to look upon the destroyer of the Heiji without an irresistible desire to kill him, not to be outdone in generosity, he plucked out his eyes and presented them to Yoritomo on a plate!
There is another—more ancient, but less numerous—order of the blind, composed exclusively of ecclesiastical persons, and claiming as its founder a legendary prince, who cried himself blind at the death of his beautiful mistress.
The blind are numerous, and disorders of the eyes are very common in Japan.