Lights are usually followed by shadows. A shadow fell and the movement of his gears changed when he dabbled in speculation egged by a chance acquaintance.
He was driven into a tight corner. He tried to withdraw from his failing speculation, but to no avail. Getting back onto the right track was so difficult for him. He got deeper and deeper into it, and the worst came. he went broke.
Then, another unbelievable thing happened to Shozo and Tomizo in 1910. Tomizo was then four years old.
In that year, a steady heavy rain struck Tokyo area. The rain started to fall in the early part of August. The rainfall continued for ten days. And on the tenth day the bank of the Rokugo River gave away.
Then the Tone River and the Arakawa River overflowed. The vast areas of downtown Tokyo - Honjyo, Fukagawa, Asakusa and Mukojima were all flooded. There remains an old document that says the river had risen by 8.4 meters. The Ayase River also burst at thirteen places turning Minami-Adachi-gun, Itabashi and Shimura areas into a muddy sea as far as the eye could see. The death toll rose to forty-five, of which eleven were female.
Unfortunately Tomizo's mother's name Haru was there among the eleven.
Shozo walked with slow heavy steps along the bank of the Arakawa River carrying the corpse of his wife to Haru's parents' home at Nishidai, Itabashi.
The sun was pouring down its full strength from the sky.For four-year-old Tomizo that event was an absolute nightmare. The misery haunted Tomizo's mind all his life.