“Kinyo no Nii had an elder brother called Abbot Ryōgaku who was very hot-tempered. A large hackberry tree grew alongside his hut, so people called him ‘the Hackberry Priest’. Offended by this, he cut the tree down. The stump was left, so he was then called ‘the Stump Priest’. This made him angrier still, and he dug the stump out, leaving a large hole that filled with water. So then everyone called him ‘the Ditch Priest’.”

This is from ESSAYS IN IDLENESS (UK) (US). It is, essentially, the cousin of the joke that ends with “…but you fuck one pig…”

I like this story from IDLENESS because it illustrates that thing where continually acting out of anger and offendedness doesn’t ever seem to really get you anywhere that you want to be. Also, that Ryogaku would have been much happier to be known as The Priest Who Made An Example Of One Guy By Coldly And Calmly Shoving A Hackberry Bush Right Down That One Guy’s Fucking Throat.