In October 1901 Kumagusu left Wakayama by boat for Katsu’ura, where he lived at the branch of Minakata Sake Distillery, run by brother Tsunegusu, until October 1904.In Nachi he spent all his time collecting fungi and algae around the region. One day, when collecting lichen at the Ichino-taki Falls, he met a young man, Shiro Koaze, a shipping company worker, who as a disciple was going to help Kumagusu with research on slime molds all his life. Koaze sent specimens from every port he called as well as offered financial support. Koaze, together with his close friend Shigeru Uematsu, backed Kumagusu both materially and spiritually.
He was very active in Nachi; collected insects and plants, made microscope slides and colored illustrated manuals, read hundreds of books, completed a draft for the English translation of ‘Hojoki: The Ten Square Feet Hut,’ which co-authored with Frederick V. Dickins, and proofread ‘Primal Text of Japan’ also written by Dickins. He also resumed writing for ‘Nature’ and ‘Notes and Queries.’
Embraced by the wildlife in the Kumano Mountains, Kumagusu, based on his extensive knowledge of the world, studied interaction between the spiritual with the material world and participated in heated debates on nature and life, including religious one with Horyu Toki. He also completed‘The Origin of the Swallow-Stone Myth (Ensekiko),’ a study he had planned at the end of the time in UK, which is considered as the pinnacle of his research presented in English.
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