He was so convinced of his theory that he issued an announcement to forbid eating barley rice which was taken as a diet supplement for beriberi in the Navy of the times, and in the Russo-Japanese War also, he refused to supply barley rice to soldiers (as he mentioned in his short story 'Moso' (Delusion).
自説に固執し、当時海軍で採用していた脚気対策の治療法として行われていた麦飯を禁止する通達を出し、さらに日露戦争でも兵士に麦飯を支給するのを拒んだ（自ら短編「妄想」で触れている）。