spirit of enryo

Father Kleinsorge was briefly hospitalized in Tokyo twice more. His German Jesuit colleagues were of the opinion that in all his work he was a little too much concerned for others, and not enough for himself. Beyond his own stubborn sense of mission, he had taken on himself the Japanese spirit of enryo – setting the self apart, putting the wishes of others first. They thought he might literally kill himself with kindness to others; he was too rücksichtsvoll, they said – too regardful. When gifts of delicacies came from relatives in Germany, he gave them all away. When he got penicillin from an Occupation doctor, he gave it to parishioners who were as sick as he. (Among his many other complaints, he had syphilis, which he had apparently caught from transfusions in one of his hospital stays; it was cured eventually.) He gave lessons on the catechism when he had a high fever. After he came back from a long hike of pastoral calls, the Misasa housekeeper would see him collapse on the steps of his rectory, head down – a figure, it seemed, of utter defeat. The next day, he would be out in the streets again.


Hiroshima by John Hersey. Vintage Books. 1989. p.110, 111