November 1891 Leaves Matsue for Kumamoto. Begins teaching at Kumamoto Kōtō Chūgakkō (Higher Middle School).
January 1893 Completes first book, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.
October 1894 Arrives in Kobe, writing for theKobe Chronicle.
December 1894 Resigns from theKobe Chronicle,claiming failing eyesight.
1895 Becomes Japanese citizen, Koizumi Yakumo. Summer 1896 Visits Matsue.
September 1896 Begins teaching in the College of Literature at Tokyo Imperial University.
1903 Contract with Tokyo Imperial University expires.
August 1904 With family at Yaizu.
September 26, 1904 Dies at the age of 54.
Glossary
Note: Entries in the glossary follow modern Romanized spelling. Terms within brackets are written in Hearn’s original Romanization.
ama-zake: sweet saké
ame: candy
ameya: sweets shop
azukimeshi [adzukimeshi]: rice and red beans
bake-mono ki: literally, ghost tree
bokkuri: girl’s clogs
butsu-ma: room with a Buddhist altar
chō: 1. distance of about 120 yards 2. town
chōzu-bachi [chodzu-bachi]: basin for washing the hands
daimyō: feudal lord
dohyō-ba: wrestling ring
dōshin bōzu: priest
enoki: (Chinese) nettle tree
eta: outcast class
fukusa: square cloth for wrapping a small gift
fumi-bako: lacquered box for keeping letters
gaki: hungry ghost; famished devil
geta: wooden clogs
gohei: hanging white paper strip in a Shinto shrine
goshō: the future life; the life to come
hachiya: outcast class
haka: tomb
hakaba: cemetery
hakama: man’s formal divided skirt
hanashi-ka: storyteller
hara-kiri: ritual suicide by cutting the abdomen
hashira [bashira]: pillar
hata-moto: direct vassal of the shogun
heike-gani: mask crab
heimin: commoner
hibachi: charcoal brazier
hijō: inanimate nature
hiki-gaeru: toad
hinoki: Japanese cypress
hotaru: firefly
hotoke: the Buddha
hototogisu: cuckoo
ihai: mortuary tablet; memorial tablet
inki: gloom; melancholy
inkyo [inkyō]: retired person
Jizō: bodhisattva usually shown with a jewel in one hand and a staff in the other, commonly regarded as the patron of children
jorō: prostitute
jorōya: brothel
jōshi: lovers’ suicide
jūjutsu: judo
kachū yashiki [katchiū yashiki]: house of a retainer of a daimyō
kaimyō: posthumous Buddhist name
kake-mono: hanging scroll
kakitsubata: rabbit-ear iris
kamakake: praying mantis
kami: god; gods
kami-yui: hairdresser
kannushi: Shinto priest
katsuo-no-eboshi: Portuguese man-of-war
kawarake: unglazed earthenware
kazari: ornament; decoration
ken: prefecture
koku: unit of dry measure equivalent to about 5.1 US bushels koniwa: small garden
kura: storehouse; godown
kuruma: ricksha
kuruma-ya: ricksha man
Kwannon: the bodhisattva Kannon; goddess of mercy
kyō: sutra
mamori: amulet; charm
meido: hades; the underworld
minmin-zemi: robust cicada
mi-tarashi: holy washing trough
mizu-ame [midzu-ame]: thick clear syrup
mokugyo [mokyogyō]: hollow wooden block shaped like a dolphin’s head, which is tapped to accompany the chanting of a Buddhist sutra
ninsō-mi [ninsomi]: physiognomist
nobori: banner; streamer
o-bake: monster; ghost
obi: sash
o-chōzu-bachi: wash basin for washing the hands
o-fuda: holy text; holy charm
oni: goblin; fiend
ri: distance of about 2.44 miles
rin: unit of currency equal to one-thousandth of a yen
rokushaku: loincloth
sakura-no-hana: cherry blossom
sakura-no-ki: cherry tree
sanbō [sambo]: small wooden stand for an offering at a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine
segaki: mass for the dead
semi: cicada
sen: unit of currency equal to one-hundredth of a yen
shachihoko: dolphin-like ornament on the roof of a castle
shikimi: sacred plant used for offerings in Buddhist ceremonies for the dead; Japanese star anise
shime-nawa: sacred rope of twisted rice straw
shinjū: lovers’ suicide
shiryō-yoke: charm used as protection against a ghost
shizoku: person of samurai descent
shōji: paper-covered wooden sliding door
shōkonsha: Shinto shrine for the spirits of war dead
shōryō-bune: straw boat for the spirit of a dead person
shōryō-dana: shelf to welcome the souls of the departed at O-Bon, the Buddhist observance for the spirits of ancestors shū: sect
soba: buckwheat noodles
sobaya: shop selling buckwheat noodles
suiban [suïbon]: shallow container for flowers
tabi: Japanese sock with the big toe separated from the other toes
tai: sea bream
taka-geta: clogs with high supports
tanabiku: to hang or lie over, as of clouds
tasuki: sash cord for holding up tucked kimono sleeves
tegashiwa: kind of oak
tengu: creature in Japanese folklore with a long beak, feared as an abductor of humans
to: door
toko: toko-no-ma
tokoniwa: miniature garden within a toko-no-ma
toko-no-ma: wall niche in a Japanese home for displaying a scroll, flowers, etc.
torii: gatelike structure at a shrine or on a path leading to a shrine
tōrō: 1. lantern 2. praying mantis
tsukutsuku-bōshi: kind of cicada
uguisu: Japanese nightingale
ujigami: tutelary god of a place; patron saint
ujiko: person living under the patronage of a local god
ujō: animate thing
ume-no-hana: plum blossom
ume-no-ki: plum tree
waraji: straw sandals
yama: mountain
yama-bato: turtledove
yama-no-mono: outcast class
yashiki: mansion; estate
yōki: loveliness; vivacity
yuzuri-ha: kind of evergreen used for New Year’s decoration
zashiki: room
zuihitsu: light essay; random notes
Bibliography
Writings on Japan by Hearn
Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, 1894. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1976.
Out of the East: Reveries and Studies in New Japan, 1895. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1972.
Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life, 1896. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1972.
Gleanings in Buddha Fields: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East, 1897.
Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1971.
Exotics and Retrospectives, 1898. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1971. Japanese Fairytales , 1898 through 1922, five volumes.
In Ghostly Japan, 1899. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1971. Shadowings, 1900. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1971.
A Japanese Miscellany: Strange Stories, Folklore Gleanings, Studies Here and There, 1901. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1967.
Kottō: Being Japanese Curios, with Sundry Cobwebs, 1902. Repri
nt. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1971.
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, 1904. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1971.
Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation, 1904. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1955.
The Romance of the Milky Way and Other Studies and Stories, 1904. Reprint.
Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1974.
Uncollected Pieces:
“A Winter’s Journey in Japan.” Harper’s Monthly, November, 1890.
“From My Japanese Diary.” Atlantic Monthly, November, 1894.
“The Ballad of Shun Toku Maru.” The Chrysanthemum, vol. 2, no. 1, 1897.
“Notes on a Trip to Izumo.” Atlantic Monthly, May, 1897.
“The Nun Ryone.” London: Transactions of the Japan Society, vol. VI, part 3.
Writings on Hearn
Allen, Louis, and Jean Wilson. Lafcadio Hearn: Japan’s Great Interpreter—A New Anthology of His Writings. Folkestone, Kent: The Japan Library, 1992.
Barel, Leona. The Idyll: My Personal Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1933.
Bellair, John. In Hearn’s Footsteps. Huntington University Editions, 1994. Beong-cheon Yu. An Ape of the Gods: The Art and Thought of Lafcadio Hearn.
Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1964.
Bisland, Elizabeth. Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906.
Chamberlain, B. H. Letters . Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1936.
———— . More Letters. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1937.
Chisolm, Lawrence. Fenollosa: The Far East and American Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963.
Cott, Jonathan. Wandering Ghost: The Odyssey of Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1991.
Dawson, Carl. Lafcadio Hearn and the Vision of Japan. Baltimore & London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1922.
Goebel, Rolf J. “Japan Was Western Text: Roland Barthes, Richard Gordon Smith, and Lafcadio Hearn.” Pennsylvania State University: Comparative Literature Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, 1993.
Goodman, Henry, ed. The Selected Writings of Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Citadel Press, 1949.
Hasegawa Yoji. Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese Wife: Her Memoirs. Tokyo: Micro Printing Co., 1988.
———— . Walk in Kumamoto: The Life and Times of Setsu Koizumi, Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese Wife. With a New Translation of Her Memoir, “Reminiscences.” Folkestone, Kent, UK, Global Oriental, 1997.
Hearn Centennial Committee. Selected Writings of Lafcadio Hearn . Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1953.
Hirakawa Sukihiro, ed. Rediscovering Lafcadio Hearn. Kent: Global Oriental, 1997.
Hughes, George. “Lafcadio Hearn: Between Britain and Japan.” Poetica 44.
Tokyo: Shubun, Int., 1996.
Jansen, Marius. “Lafcadio in Japan.” Princeton University Papers . Princeton University, no. 19, Winter, 1963–64.
Kennard, Nina. Lafcadio Hearn. 1912. Reprint. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1967.
King, Francis. Writings from Japan: An Anthology . London: Penguin, 1984. Kirkwood, Kenneth. Unfamiliar Lafcadio Hearn. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1935.
Koizumi Kazuo. Father and I: Memories of Lafcadio Hearn. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1935.
Koizumi Setsuko. Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1918.
Kurihara Motoi. “My Teacher, Lafcadio Hearn.” Today’s Japan, vol. 4, no. 1, January, 1959.
Lazar, Margaret. The Art of Lafcadio Hearn: A Study of His Literary Development. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1977.
Lewis, Oscar. Hearn and His Biographers. San Francisco: Westgate Press, 1930.
Lovell, Patrick. “Koizum Yakumo: Beyond the Romantic Haze.” Tokyo: The Journal, British Chamber of Commerce, Japan, vol. 4, no. 6, 1990. McAdow, Margaret. Lafcadio Hearn: A Study of his Literary Development.
Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1984.
McIvor, Peter. “Lafcadio Hearn’s First Day in the Orient.” Japan Quarterly , vol. 43, no. 2, April–June, 1996.
McWilliams, Vera. Lafcadio Hearn. 1946. Reprint. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1970.
Miner, Earl. The Japanese Tradition in British and American Literature.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958.
Mordell, Albert. Lafcadio Hearn: An American Miscellany. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1924.
Murray, Paul. “Lafcadio Hearn, 1850–1904.” In Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits , Vol. II, ed. Ian Nish. Richmond, Surrey, UK, Japan Library, 1997.
Noguchi Yone et al. Lafcadio Hearn in Japan. 1910. Reprint. Rye, NY: Folcroft Library Editions, 1978.
Rexroth, Kenneth, ed. The Buddhist Writings of Lafcadio Hearn. Santa Barbara: Ross-Erikson, Inc., 1977.
Richie, Donald. “Lafcadio Hearn: An Attempt at Interpretation.” Far East Stars and Stripes Weekly Review,Sunday, March 21, 1948.
Robert, Marcel. Lafcadio Hearn.Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1950. Rosenstone, Robert.Mirror in the Shrine: American Encounters with Meiji Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988.
Sanga Makoto. “Lafcadio Hearn in Japan.” Today’s Japan, vol. 4, no. 1, January, 1959.
Stevenson, Elizabeth. Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Macmillan, 1961.
Temple, Jean. Blue Ghost: A Study of Lafcadio Hearn. New York: Smith & Cape, 1931.
Thomas, Carl. Lafcadio Hearn. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.
Zenimoto Kenji. A General Catalogue of Hearn Collections in Japan and Overseas. Matsue: The Hearn Society, 1991.
Lafcadio Hearn's Japan Page 25