"why, it is your own face that you see. what i have brought you is called a mirror, and whoever looks into its clear surface can see their own form reflected there. although there are none to be found in this out of the way place, yet they have been in use in the capital from the most ancient times. there the mirror is considered a very necessary requisite for a woman to possess. there is an old proverb that 'as the sword is the soul of a samurai, so is the mirror the soul of a woman,'