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Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Vol 1
A Japanese magic-lantern show is essentially dramatic. It is a play of which the dialogue is uttered by invisible personages, the actors and the scenery being only luminous shadows. Wherefore it is peculiarly well suited to goblinries and weirdnessess of all kinds; and plays in which ghosts figure are the favourite subject. -from "Of Ghosts and Goblins"
In 1889, Westerner Lafcadio Hearn arrived in Japan on a journalistic assignment, and he fell so in love with the nation and its people that he never left. In 1894, just as Japan was truly opening to the West and global interest in Japanese culture was burgeoning, Hearn published this delightful series of essays glorifying what he called the "rare charm of Japanese life."
Beautifully written and a joy to read, Hearn's love letters to the land of the rising sun enchant with their sweetly lyrical descriptions of winter street fairs, puppet theaters, religious statuaries, even the Japanese smile and its particular allure.
A wonderful journal of immersion on a foreign land, this will bewitch Japanophiles and travelers to the East.
In 1889, Westerner Lafcadio Hearn arrived in Japan on a journalistic assignment, and he fell so in love with the nation and its people that he never left. In 1894, just as Japan was truly opening to the West and global interest in Japanese culture was burgeoning, Hearn published this delightful series of essays glorifying what he called the "rare charm of Japanese life."
Beautifully written and a joy to read, Hearn's love letters to the land of the rising sun enchant with their sweetly lyrical descriptions of winter street fairs, puppet theaters, religious statuaries, even the Japanese smile and its particular allure.
A wonderful journal of immersion on a foreign land, this will bewitch Japanophiles and travelers to the East.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1894
47 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Lafcadio Hearn
1,460 books452 followersGreek-born American writer Lafcadio Hearn spent 15 years in Japan; people note his collections of stories and essays, including
Kokoro
(1896), under pen name Koizumi Yakumo.
Rosa Cassimati (Ρόζα Αντωνίου Κασιμάτη in Greek), a Greek woman, bore Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν in Greek or 小泉八雲 in Japanese), a son, to Charles Hearn, an army doctor from Ireland. After making remarkable works in America as a journalist, he went to Japan in 1890 as a journey report writer of a magazine. He arrived in Yokohama, but because of a dissatisfaction with the contract, he quickly quit the job. He afterward moved to Matsué as an English teacher of Shimané prefectural middle school. In Matsué, he got acquainted with Nishida Sentarô, a colleague teacher and his lifelong friend, and married Koizumi Setsu, a daughter of a samurai.
In 1891, he moved to Kumamoto and taught at the fifth high school for three years. Kanô Jigorô, the president of the school of that time, spread judo to the world.
Hearn worked as a journalist in Kôbé and afterward in 1896 got Japanese citizenship and a new name, Koizumi Yakumo. He took this name from "Kojiki," a Japanese ancient myth, which roughly translates as "the place where the clouds are born". On that year, he moved to Tôkyô and began to teach at the Imperial University of Tôkyô. He got respect of students, many of whom made a remarkable literary career. In addition, he wrote much reports of Japan and published in America. So many people read his works as an introduction of Japan. He quit the Imperial University in 1903 and began to teach at Waseda University on the year next. Nevertheless, after only a half year, he died of angina pectoris.
Rosa Cassimati (Ρόζα Αντωνίου Κασιμάτη in Greek), a Greek woman, bore Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν in Greek or 小泉八雲 in Japanese), a son, to Charles Hearn, an army doctor from Ireland. After making remarkable works in America as a journalist, he went to Japan in 1890 as a journey report writer of a magazine. He arrived in Yokohama, but because of a dissatisfaction with the contract, he quickly quit the job. He afterward moved to Matsué as an English teacher of Shimané prefectural middle school. In Matsué, he got acquainted with Nishida Sentarô, a colleague teacher and his lifelong friend, and married Koizumi Setsu, a daughter of a samurai.
In 1891, he moved to Kumamoto and taught at the fifth high school for three years. Kanô Jigorô, the president of the school of that time, spread judo to the world.
Hearn worked as a journalist in Kôbé and afterward in 1896 got Japanese citizenship and a new name, Koizumi Yakumo. He took this name from "Kojiki," a Japanese ancient myth, which roughly translates as "the place where the clouds are born". On that year, he moved to Tôkyô and began to teach at the Imperial University of Tôkyô. He got respect of students, many of whom made a remarkable literary career. In addition, he wrote much reports of Japan and published in America. So many people read his works as an introduction of Japan. He quit the Imperial University in 1903 and began to teach at Waseda University on the year next. Nevertheless, after only a half year, he died of angina pectoris.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 7, 2013
Part travelogue, part collection of folklore, this is a work of beautiful prose. At times Hearn writes with gentle humor; and when he speaks of his own adventures -- climbing treacherous areas in his Western clothes (he later mentions wearing Japanese dress), not realizing why he shouldn't swim in sacred waters -- he is mildly self-deprecating.
I would've enjoyed this merely for getting to relive my visit to Matsue; and in reading of other cities I didn't get to visit, I could picture how those shrines and temples compared to those I saw in Kyoto or Nara. Even better, I got a couple of questions answered about things that had been niggling at me since my trip in connection with the usually red 'bibs' that were around the necks of little figures and bigger stone foxes. I also know now why of the pairs of guardians of holy places one has its mouth open and the other's is closed. It was also interesting to see what has changed, but even more to see what has not.
Hearn's love of the Japanese, their legends, their stories of their gods, of long-dead mortals and of the supernatural comes through loud and clear. It's no wonder he is still revered in this area that he lived in for such a relatively short period of time.
I would've enjoyed this merely for getting to relive my visit to Matsue; and in reading of other cities I didn't get to visit, I could picture how those shrines and temples compared to those I saw in Kyoto or Nara. Even better, I got a couple of questions answered about things that had been niggling at me since my trip in connection with the usually red 'bibs' that were around the necks of little figures and bigger stone foxes. I also know now why of the pairs of guardians of holy places one has its mouth open and the other's is closed. It was also interesting to see what has changed, but even more to see what has not.
Hearn's love of the Japanese, their legends, their stories of their gods, of long-dead mortals and of the supernatural comes through loud and clear. It's no wonder he is still revered in this area that he lived in for such a relatively short period of time.
September 11, 2022
3.5/5
I love Hearn's writing style as it has a fairy tale feel to it that makes even the dryest material entertaining.
I love Hearn's writing style as it has a fairy tale feel to it that makes even the dryest material entertaining.
August 22, 2017
Продолжаем рассматривать Японию конца XIX века глазами японского греко-ирландца. В первом томе Хёрн отмечает и всячески подчеркивает странное, казалось бы, созвучие: для него Япония поначалу оказалась страной фей. Это позже он станет популяризатором буддизма и синтоизма и поселится здесь навсегда. Пока же он только очарован (хоть и с большим знанием дела). Ейц-то свою Ерландию, как известно, изобрел, а вот Хёрн нашел ее в Японии. Но вообще прекрасно читать, как человек обретает свою 0-родину.
Want to read
November 1, 2012Free download available at Gutenberg Project.
July 29, 2014
This book by Lafcadio Hearn is made up of 15 different short accounts about various events, places, or otherwise in Japan.
Most of the accounts revolve around religious sites or events, especially pilgrimage sites like Enoshima, Kitzuki shrine or the Cave of the Children's Ghosts.
Hearn describes the sites and events in rich and careful detail, as always, and provides an insight into the Japan that he saw at the mid to end of the 19th Century (and start of 20th).
This particular book is based on his earliest impressions and experiences of Japan, which, when contrasted with his descriptions of Japan in his later books, shows how much his knowledge has expanded and how much his interests have shifted and yet remained alike.
In particular, his religious interests lie more with Japanese Buddhism in the context of these accounts, with Shintoism wandering in more vaguely, hidden in the rituals that are mainly contextualised into Buddhism; however, in his book, Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation, he shows a greater awareness, interesting and focus on Shintoism, presenting it as the ruling religious pattern that is only slightly overlain by Buddhist imagery and influences.
If you are interested in the religious culture of Japan (as well as the social), Hearn's books are a must-read, especially because it provides a brilliant opportunity to see a long-gone Japan, the way it was in the late 19th Century and the fading of the particularities of that time as the rest of the world is getting more and more involved.
Hearn manages to evoke a certain nostalgia for a world that you can't have ever seen or encountered, and never will...
(This in spite of the clarity of the downsides of the culture, though Hearn is still naively positive about the culture and hasn't yet observed its darkness as strongly as he does in later books.)
Most of the accounts revolve around religious sites or events, especially pilgrimage sites like Enoshima, Kitzuki shrine or the Cave of the Children's Ghosts.
Hearn describes the sites and events in rich and careful detail, as always, and provides an insight into the Japan that he saw at the mid to end of the 19th Century (and start of 20th).
This particular book is based on his earliest impressions and experiences of Japan, which, when contrasted with his descriptions of Japan in his later books, shows how much his knowledge has expanded and how much his interests have shifted and yet remained alike.
In particular, his religious interests lie more with Japanese Buddhism in the context of these accounts, with Shintoism wandering in more vaguely, hidden in the rituals that are mainly contextualised into Buddhism; however, in his book, Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation, he shows a greater awareness, interesting and focus on Shintoism, presenting it as the ruling religious pattern that is only slightly overlain by Buddhist imagery and influences.
If you are interested in the religious culture of Japan (as well as the social), Hearn's books are a must-read, especially because it provides a brilliant opportunity to see a long-gone Japan, the way it was in the late 19th Century and the fading of the particularities of that time as the rest of the world is getting more and more involved.
Hearn manages to evoke a certain nostalgia for a world that you can't have ever seen or encountered, and never will...
(This in spite of the clarity of the downsides of the culture, though Hearn is still naively positive about the culture and hasn't yet observed its darkness as strongly as he does in later books.)
December 18, 2015
I've been a fan of Hearn for many years mainly due to his sensitive and accurate insights into Japanese culture. My favourite book of his is Kokoro. The insights from hearn are of a bygone era, so Japanese culture has subsequently been well and truly westernized (read Americanised). This excerpt is a good example of Hearn's attitude to many things Japanese - "the Japanese do not brutally chop off flower-heads to work them up into meaningless masses of colour, as we barbarians do: they love nature too well for that; they know how much the natural charm of the flower depends upon its setting and mounting, its relation to leaf and stem, and they select a single graceful branch or spray just as nature made it. At first you will not, as a Western stranger, comprehend such an exhibition at all: you are yet a savage in such matters compared with the commonest coolies about you." This volume has a focus on temples, so be prepared for a pretty good insight into Shinto and Buddhism.
July 27, 2013
Enkel : Yaegaki-jinja
November 20, 2018
Rightly considered as a very important figure in Japan, this book is 130 years old and still relevant and fascinating.
August 9, 2024
This edition is of interest as an introduction to the extensive body of Hearn's writings -- worthwhile dipping into for the extremely reasonable price of $0. Hearn is an engaging writer with great soul, and his fascinating recollections are of a Japan encountered when it was rarely visited by foreigners. The Complete Works are available, however, for Kindle, for a cheap price, so a potential reader would be better referred to that. I was fortunate during the nineteens and 2000s to have had a great opportunity to read Hearn extensively in my university library stacks, and he makes some appearances in my own book Tatami Days: Getting a Life in Japan (Furin Chime, 2018).
May 6, 2022
It was quite interesting
I loved it. Every story was rich with great characters and colourful stories in the ancient cities in the world of Japan
I loved it. Every story was rich with great characters and colourful stories in the ancient cities in the world of Japan
April 19, 2021
While not as consistently entrancing as In Ghostly Japan, this collection of personal travels around a long lost Japan offers fascinating insights into their culture.
March 22, 2020
A collection of anecdotes about his travels to unfamiliar towns and temples, a few shine with brilliance whereas others recount lost times.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews