Note: This story was first published in August 1916 in the Tokyo Imperial University student magazine 新思潮, Shin shichō, "New trend of thought". A revised version seems to have been published in 1922. The original Japanese title of this story, 仙人, is transcribed as Sen'nin in the Revised Hepburn notation (a sinicized pronunciation, from Mandarin xiānrén), and means "hermit" (also "wizard; fairy"). It is composed of 仙, sen, "hermit; immortal" (literally, "man in the mountain") and 人, usually pronounced hito, "man".