He encountered historical artifacts, culture, legacies and so on in the various places he visited to carry out the examination for conscription, through which in his personal life also, he discovered a hobby of visiting tombs which later inspired a biography based on historical evidence he wrote in his later years.
私生活でも、徴兵検査の視察時などで各地の歴史的な文物、文化、事蹟との出会いを通し、とくに後年の史伝につながる掃台（探墓）の趣味を得た。