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The British Writer not Known to the Brits
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Thanks to the Shogun chronicles by the British writer, James Clavell–and later to the portrayal by American actor, Richard Chamberlain of its central character–John Blackthorne in the TV miniseries of the same name, the XVII century British pilot, William Adams (aka Miura Anjin) became a household name on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Like Adams, another foreigner to acquire recognition in the Japanese isles was the man of letters–Patrick Lafcadio Hearn.
Oldest extant version of kojiki - 1371
Born from an Irish father and a Greek mother in 1850, Lafcadio Hearn was brought up by his paternal relatives in Ireland. During stints in the northern France, USA and in the French-controlled Caribbean island of Martinique, Lafcadio built his career as writer/journalist. Back in the US, he read the English translation of Japan’s eighth-century collection of foundation myths, “Kojiki”, and fell under its spell. In 1890, aged 40, Lafcadio found himself in the yet very unknown and mysterious country of the East–the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan.
Through his contacts, Lafcadio secured an English teaching position at a school in Matsue City, where he met his future wife, Koizumi Setsu, a descendant of a local samurai. Lafcadio married Setsu, adopting the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo. It was a match made in heaven. Firstly, between Lafcadio and his wife Setsu, who later became the vital supporter of his writing career. Secondly, between Lafcadio’s penchant for Japanese literature, and their view of kami (gods) and ghost tales; and Japan, a country that was traversing a crucial phase of modernisation and Westernisation. The nation had just come out of a self-imposed, over two centuries of isolation (1639 to 1868).
Kalamitsi Beach, Ionian Sea. Lefkada Island in Greece, where Lafcadio's name came from
Lafcadio became a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, in most cases attempting to understand and explain the Japanese culture and their way of thinking. Through his work, Lafcadio created a bridge between East and West, and was a devotee of both Greek and Japanese cultures. He believed either had common features in their paganism and animism, and visualised Greece as Utopia.
Some of his best works are “Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan” (1894); “Japanese Fairy Tales” (1898); “Out of the East: Reveries and Studies in New Japan” (1895) and his best-known work, “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things” (1903)–a collection of classic Japanese ghost stories and horror tales, such as “The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoïchi” and “Yuki-Onna.”
Lafcadio died in 1904 in Tokyo, his last place of residence in the country he had adopted as his own. Yet, it is in the city of Matsue where one finds most traces of his life in Japan: a memorial museum, a road, a craft beer, an art studio, a park, all named after the writer, in addition to Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples referencing their connections to Lafcadio Hearn.
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