At length Sayemon's wife and child went in search of the missing man. For five years they wandered about the country, till at length they came to a little village in Kishu, where an old man informed the weary and travel-stained wanderers that Sayemon was now a priest, and that a year ago he lived in the temple of Kongobuji, on Mount Koya.
The next day the woman and her son found that at the temple of Kongobuji no women were permitted to enter, so Ishidomaro, after carefully listening to his mother's instructions, ascended the mountain alone. When the boy, after a long and arduous climb, reached the temple, he saw a monk, and said: "Does a priest called Kato Sayemon live here? I am his little son, and my good mother awaits me in yonder valley. Five years we have sought for him, and the love that is in our hearts will surely find him."
The priest, who was none other than Sayemon himself, thus addressed his son: "I am sorry to think that your journey has been in vain, for no one of the name of Kato Sayemon lives in this temple."
Sayemon spoke with outward coldness, but within his heart there was a struggle between his religion and love for his son. Knowing, however, that he had left his wife and child well provided for, he yielded to the teaching of the Lord Buddha and crushed out his parental feelings.
Ishidomaro, however, was not satisfied, for he felt instinctively that the man before him was in reality his father, and once again he addressed the priest: "Good sir, on my left eye there is a mole, and my mother told me that on the left eye of my father there is a similar mark, by which I might at once recognise him. You have the very mark, and in my heart I know that you are my father." And having said these words the boy wept bitterly, longing for arms that never came to caress and soothe the unhappy little fellow.
Sayemon's feelings were again stirred; but with a great effort to conceal his emotion, he said: "The mark of which you speak is very common. I am certainly not your father, and you had better dry your eyes and seek him elsewhere." With these words the priest left the boy in order to attend an evening service.
Sayemon continued to live in the temple. He had found peace in serving the Lord Buddha, and he cared not what became of his wife and child.
How an Old Man lost his Wen
There was once an old man who had a wen on his right cheek. This disfigurement caused him a good deal of annoyance, and he had spent a considerable sum of money in trying to get rid of it. He took various medicines and applied many lotions, but instead of the wen disappearing or even diminishing, it increased in size.