The Story Of Mimi Nashi Hoichi : THE STORY OF MIMI-NASHI-HOICHI More than seven hundred years ago, at Dan-no-ura, in the Straits of Shimonoseki, was fought the last battle of the long contest between the Heike, or Taira clan, and the Genji, or Minamoto clan. There the Heike perished utterly, with their women and children...
Jikininki : JIKININKI Once, when Muso Kokushi, a priest of the Zen sect, was journeying alone through the province of Mino (1), he lost his way in a mountain-district where there was nobody to direct him. For a long time he wandered about helplessly; and he was beginning to despair of finding shelter...
Of A Mirror And A Bell : OF A MIRROR AND A BELL Eight centuries ago, the priests of Mugenyama, in the province of Totomi (1), wanted a big bell for their temple; and they asked the women of their parish to help them by contributing old bronze mirrors for bell-metal. [Even to-day, in the courts of certain Japanese temples...
Yuki Onna : YUKI-ONNA In a village of Musashi Province (1), there lived two woodcutters: Mosaku and Minokichi. At the time of which I am speaking, Mosaku was an old man; and Minokichi, his apprentice, was a lad of eighteen years. Every day they went together to a forest situated about five miles from their...
Insect Studies : INSECT STUDIES BUTTERFLIES I Would that I could hope for the luck of that Chinese scholar known to Japanese literature as "Rosan"! For he was beloved by two spirit-maidens, celestial sisters, who every ten days came to visit him and to tell him stories about butterflies. Now there are marvelous...
Ants : ANTS I This morning sky, after the night's tempest, is a pure and dazzling blue. The air--the delicious air!--is full of sweet resinous odors, shed from the countless pine-boughs broken and strewn by the gale. In the neighboring bamboo-grove I hear the flute-call of the bird that praises the Sutr...
Rokuro Kubi : ROKURO-KUBI Nearly five hundred years ago there was a samurai, named Isogai Heidazaemon Taketsura, in the service of the Lord Kikuji, of Kyushu. This Isogai had inherited, from many warlike ancestors, a natural aptitude for military exercises, and extraordinary strength. While yet a boy he had...
Introduction : INTRODUCTION The publication of a new volume of Lafcadio Hearn's exquisite studies of Japan happens, by a delicate irony, to fall in the very month when the world is waiting with tense expectation for news of the latest exploits of Japanese battleships. Whatever the outcome of the present struggle...
Riki Baka : RIKI-BAKA His name was Riki, signifying Strength; but the people called him Riki-the-Simple, or Riki-the-Fool,--"Riki-Baka,"--because he had been born into perpetual childhood. For the same reason they were kind to him,--even when he set a house on fire by putting a lighted match...
Mosquitoes : MOSQUITOES With a view to self-protection I have been reading Dr. Howard's book, "Mosquitoes." I am persecuted by mosquitoes. There are several species in my neighborhood; but only one of them is a serious torment,--a tiny needly thing, all silver-speckled and silver-streaked. The puncture of it is...
Hi Mawari : HI-MAWARI On the wooded hill behind the house Robert and I are looking for fairy-rings. Robert is eight years old, comely, and very wise;--I am a little more than seven,--and I reverence Robert. It is a glowing glorious August day; and the warm air is filled with sharp sweet scents of resin. We do...
Oshidori : OSHIDORI There was a falconer and hunter, named Sonjo, who lived in the district called Tamura-no-Go, of the province of Mutsu. One day he went out hunting, and could not find any game. But on his way home, at a place called Akanuma, he perceived a pair of oshidori (mandarin-ducks), swimming...
The Story Of Aoyagi : THE STORY OF AOYAGI In the era of Bummei [1469-1486] there was a young samurai called Tomotada in the service of Hatakeyama Yoshimune, the Lord of Noto (1). Tomotada was a native of Echizen (2); but at an early age he had been taken, as page, into the palace of the daimyo of Noto, and had been...
Notes : NOTES THE STORY OF MIMI-NASHI-HOICHI See my Kotto, for a description of these curious crabs. Or, Shimonoseki. The town is also known by the name of Bakkan. The biwa, a kind of four-stringed lute, is chiefly used in musical recitative. Formerly the professional minstrels who recited...
The Dream Of Akinosuke : THE DREAM OF AKINOSUKE In the district called Toichi of Yamato Province, (1) there used to live a goshi named Miyata Akinosuke... [Here I must tell you that in Japanese feudal times there was a privileged class of soldier-farmers,--free-holders,--corresponding to the class of yeomen in England;...
Horai : HORAI Blue vision of depth lost in height,--sea and sky interblending through luminous haze. The day is of spring, and the hour morning. Only sky and sea,--one azure enormity... In the fore, ripples are catching a silvery light, and threads of foam are swirling. But a little further off no moti...
Jiu Roku Zakura : JIU-ROKU-ZAKURA In Wakegori, a district of the province of Iyo (1), there is a very ancient and famous cherry-tree, called Jiu-roku-zakura, or "the Cherry-tree of the Sixteenth Day," because it blooms every year upon the sixteenth day of the first month (by the old lunar calendar),--and only up...
A Dead Secret : A DEAD SECRET A long time ago, in the province of Tamba (1), there lived a rich merchant named Inamuraya Gensuke. He had a daughter called O-Sono. As she was very clever and pretty, he thought it would be a pity to let her grow up with only such teaching as the country-teachers could give her: so...
Ubazakura : UBAZAKURA Three hundred years ago, in the village called Asamimura, in the district called Onsengori, in the province of Iyo, there lived a good man named Tokubei. This Tokubei was the richest person in the district, and the muraosa, or headman, of the village. In most matters he was fortunate; but...
Title Page : KWAIDAN: STORIES AND STUDIES OF STRANGE THINGS BY LAFCADIO HEARN Boston; Houghton, Mifflin And Co. [1904] A NOTE FROM THE DIGITIZER ON JAPANESE PRONUNCIATION Although simplified, the following general rules will help the reader unfamiliar with Japanese to come close enough to Japanese pronunciati...
Diplomacy : DIPLOMACY It had been ordered that the execution should take place in the garden of the yashiki (1). So the man was taken there, and made to kneel down in a wide sanded space crossed by a line of tobi-ishi, or stepping-stones, such as you may still see in Japanese landscape-gardens. His arms were...
Mujina : MUJINA On the Akasaka Road, in Tokyo, there is a slope called Kii-no-kuni-zaka,--which means the Slope of the Province of Kii. I do not know why it is called the Slope of the Province of Kii. On one side of this slope you see an ancient moat, deep and very wide, with high green banks rising up...
