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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: Akinosuke entered at once upon his new duties; and they did not prove to
be hard. During the first three years of his governorship he was occupied
chiefly with the framing and the enactment of laws; but he had wise
counselors to help him, and he never found the work unpleasant. When it was
all finished, he had no active duties to perform, beyond attending the
rites and ceremonies ordained by ancient custom. The country was so healthy
and so fertile that sickness and want were unknown; and the people were so
good that no laws were ever broken. And Akinosuke dwelt and ruled in Raishu
for twenty years more,-- making in all twenty-three years of sojourn,
during which no shadow of sorrow traversed his life.
But in the twenty-fourth year of his governorship, a great misfortune came
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