Juntando espigas en los campos de Buda: Estudios sobre las manos y el alma en el Lejano Oriente

by Lafcadio Hearn, Miguel Sardegna (Prologue), Mariana Alonso (Translator)

Lafcadio Hearn llegó a Japón en una época en la que Occidente sentía fascinación por aquellas lejanas regiones del mundo en donde la enciclopedia y el racionalismo aún no habían hecho mella; ese Japón de las tradiciones - como señala Sardegna en el estudio preliminar-, que recién comenzaba a industrializarse, en el que los periódicos occidentales competían por acercar a sus lectores las crónicas de sus corresponsales.

Al igual que Richard Wilhelm en China y Walter Evans-Wentz en Tibet, Hearn se encontró con el budismo, ese universo espiritual expandido por todo el Oriente como un telón de fondo, que cambiaría el sentido y el rumbo de su vida.

Su obra hubiera sido asimilada dentro de la vasta literatura de cronistas, a no ser porque, en esencia, no era la crónica lo que interesaba sino ese misterio que subyace debajo de lo que nosotros, los occidentales, denominamos cultura. Esa habilidad de percibir lo no evidente, algo tan propio del pensamiento budista, le permitió ver las manos y el alma del Lejano Oriente tal como, atinadamente, lo advierte el subtítulo de la obra.

Juntando espigas en los campos de Buda reúne relatos en los que puede percibirse el amoroso proceso que llevó a Hearn a asumirse como japonés. Del mismo modo, puede intuirse en cada trazo el deseo de zanjar la distancia que separa la filosofía budista del pensamiento occidental, dura tarea para quien ha descubierto que "todo lo que hemos tomado como sustancia es sólo sombra, lo físico es lo irreal y el hombre exterior es el fantasma". Eduardo Callaey

Genres: Japan, Buddhism, Nonfiction, Ebooks

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

Greek-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.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an interesting and readable set of essays about life and Buddhism in Meiji-era Japan from the perspective of a European-born, American journalist.

[Matthew Komatsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book by way of an anecdote that I stumbled across. The anecdote ended up as a children’s book (also animated in Japan) about an old man who saved a village from a tsunami by lighting his rice fields on fire. Lafcadio Hearn was an odd fellow, but as a western observer of 19th Century Japan, his perspectives are possibly unparalleled. He was so in love with the country that he ended up naturalizing and died a Japanese citizen (with a Japanese name.) I’d intended to pluck only the tsunami story from the essay collection, but ended up staying for the duration. The treatise on Buddhism is a bit much for anyone who didn’t show up for extended metaphysics, but the rest is surprising, and well-written. Some of the travelogue is a bit wide-eyed for the modern reader, but Hearn expresses a kind of childlike joy at a variety of Japanese cultural expressions that is both pleasurable and instructive for anyone looking for insights on what Japan was like post-Meiji Restoration.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in the late 19th century it was a joy to read while visiting modern Japan and getting a feel for how different (and how similar) the country was only a century ago. Before my trip I had only managed to read bits and pieces such as the heroic tsunami story but once immersed in the culture the book was an essential companion.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hearn's cultural study is really fascinating, specifically in the discussion of Buddhism. Sometimes the text gets a bit wearing but there are certain chapters that really made an impression on me!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

We owe Lafcadio Hearn a lot. A small example is the title of this one, the hand instead of the heart.

[Ad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hearn's fourth book on japan, published in 1897.

[Mia Parnall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The DUST essay has some interesting parallels with speculative materialist thought, also the examination of Buddhist themes in popular folk-songs was charming and fascinating. Although romantic, I found in the 'Nirvana: A study in Synthetic Buddhism' essay a utopian and starstruck vision of how globalisation would transform thought & philosophy in the century to come, particularly as regards technology & the application of Buddhist thinking proffered by the internet. Hearn speaks of his connection to his past lives as a vast spinal nervous system stretching backwards into time, haven't we found the lateral version in the 21st century?

[Silvia Zuleta Romano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro delicioso que he ido leyendo de a poco en estos meses. Incluso hay historias, como la del tsunami, que la leí con mis niños. Hay mucha sabiduría y hermosas crónicas. También muy particular la mirada sobre Osaka y la importancia que ha tenido en Japón, hasta hace poco, el trabajo no asalariado. La edición y el estudio preliminar, una joya como siempre.

[Lafcadio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought I might finish it someday. Seems unlikely at this point (this point being 2023)

[David Tate]

very educational - Japanese culture

[Neal Maro · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice low stakes book to read at a leisurely pace.