The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn Volume II Part 1

The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn.

Volume 2.

by Elizabeth Bisland.

LETTERS OF LAFCADIO HEARN

LETTERS

1890-1904

TO ELIZABETH BISLAND

1890.

DEAR ELIZABETH,-- ... I feel indescribably towards j.a.pan. Of course Nature here is not the Nature of the tropics, which is so splendid and savage and omnipotently beautiful that I feel at this very moment of writing the same pain in my heart I felt when leaving Martinique. This is a domesticated Nature, which loves man, and makes itself beautiful for him in a quiet grey-and-blue way like the j.a.panese women, and the trees seem to know what people say about them,--seem to have little human souls. What I love in j.a.pan is the j.a.panese,--the poor simple humanity of the country. It is divine. There is nothing in this world approaching the nave natural charm of them. No book ever written has reflected it. And I love their G.o.ds, their customs, their dress, their bird-like quavering songs, their houses, their superst.i.tions, their faults. And I believe that their art is as far in advance of our art as old Greek art was superior to that of the earliest European art-gropings--I think there is more art in a print by Hokusai or those who came after him than in a $10,000 painting--no, a $100,000 painting.

_We_ are the barbarians! I do not merely _think_ these things: I am as sure of them as of death. I only wish I could be reincarnated in some little j.a.panese baby, so that I could see and feel the world as beautifully as a j.a.panese brain does.

And, of course, I am studying Buddhism with heart and soul. A young student from one of the temples is my companion. If I stay in j.a.pan, we shall live together.--Will write again if all goes well.

My best love to you always.

LAFCADIO HEARN.

TO ELIZABETH BISLAND

1890.

DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Do you think well enough of me to try to get me employment at a regular salary, somewhere in the United States. I have permanently broken off with the Harpers: I am starved out. My average earnings for the last three years have been scarcely $500 a year. Here in j.a.pan prices are higher than in New York,--unless one can become a j.a.panese employee. I was promised a situation; but it is now delayed until September.

I shall get along somehow. But I am so very tired of being hard-pushed, and ignored, and starved,--and obliged to undergo moral humiliations which are much worse than hunger or cold,--that I have ceased to be ashamed to ask you to say a good word for me where you can, to some newspaper, or some publis.h.i.+ng firm, able to give me steady employ, later on.

LAFCADIO HEARN.

TO ELIZABETH BISLAND

1890.

MY DEAR SISTER ELIZABETH,-- ... Now, as for myself,--I am going to become country school-master in j.a.pan,--probably for several long years. The language is unspeakably difficult to learn;--I believe it can only be learned by ear. Teaching will help me to learn it; and before learning it, to write anything enduring upon j.a.pan would be absurdly impossible. Literary work will not support one here, where living costs quite as much as in New York. What I wish to do, I want to do for its own sake; and so intend to settle, if possible, in this country, among a people who seem to me the most lovable in the world.

I have been living in temples and old Buddhist cemeteries, making pilgrimages and sounding enormous bells and wors.h.i.+pping astounding Buddhas. Still, I do not as yet know anything whatever about j.a.pan. I have nothing else worth telling you to write just now, and no address to give,--as I do not know where I am going or what I shall be doing next month.

Later on, I shall write again.

Best wishes and affection from L. H.

TO BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN

KIZUKI, July, 1890.

DEAR PROFESSOR CHAMBERLAIN,--I am writing to you from the little beach of Inasa, mentioned in the "Kojiki,"--the etymology of which name, as given by Hirata, I think you say is incorrect, or at least fantastic.

But I think you may not know that Inasa beach is in some respects the nicest bathing-place imaginable--certainly by far the best I have ever visited in j.a.pan. The hotels face a beach without a pebble in its sand, and when the water is not rough, it is clear as a diamond; when roughened by a west wind, however, the water sometimes becomes dirty with seaweed, drift and such refuse. This is the great bathing resort of Izumo. But it is much more quiet and pleasant than other j.a.panese bathing resorts I have seen--such as Oiso. After the bath, moreover, one can have a hot salt water bath or a cold fresh-water douche. And there is plenty of deep water for swimming. Right opposite our window is the "thousand draught rock" which the son of Ohokuni, etc., lifted on the tips of his fingers.

Kaka is famous for its sea cave, and legend of Jizo. I think I wrote you of this beautiful legend of the child ghosts and the fountain of milk. But it is really too pretty to publish in a matter-of-fact record.

The term "arrows of prayer" which I use, might deceive the reader. The arrows put into the rice-fields to scare away crows are very different in appearance and purpose. I hope to send you some of the former from Mionoseki.

I will stay here some weeks--the sea-bathing is too good to lose. Will write again soon.

Most truly ever, LAFCADIO HEARN.

TO BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN

KIZUKI, July, 1890.

DEAR PROFESSOR CHAMBERLAIN,--We are still at Kizuki--enjoying exquisite weather and delicious sea-bathing. Last evening I dined with the Kokuzo; and I never ate so much dinner or drank so much sake anywhere in j.a.pan. It was a royal feast. I also saw some things that would interest you. A series of letters of Motoori's,--also two MSS. of flute-music made by him, and the brushes with which his commentaries were written. One of the Senke family, who was his pupil, received these as bequests, and they are preserved in the family.

The conversation turned upon you; and I was asked many questions about you, which I answered as best as I could. From the extreme interest shown, I am sure that Kizuki would be turned inside out to please you if you come down here.

I asked about the deity of Mionoseki; and the learned priest Sasa and others state positively that deity is not Hiruko. The legend concerning him would prove the same fact. The deity detested the c.o.c.k, and no hens or chickens or eggs or feathers are allowed to exist in Mionoseki. No vessel would take an egg to Mionoseki. It is wrong even to eat eggs the day before going to Mionoseki. A pa.s.senger to Mionoseki was once detected smoking a pipe which had the figure of a c.o.c.k upon it, and that pipe was immediately thrown into the sea. The dislike of the G.o.d for the c.o.c.k is attributed to some adventure of his youthful days,--when the c.o.c.k had been instructed to wake him up, or call him at a certain hour.

The c.o.c.k did not perform his duty, and Koto-s.h.i.+ro-nus.h.i.+-no-Kami, had his hand bitten by a crocodile in hurrying to get back home.

There is a temple of Ebisu in Nis.h.i.+nomiya near Osaka, where the deity is believed to be identical with Hiruko, but this is not the case at Mionoseki.

Regarding the Deity of Marriage, I must correct an error in my last.

The learned priest Sasa states (quoting many ancient poems and authors to prove the fact) that the ancient Deity of Marriage was the Deity of Kizuki. But at Yaegaki Jinja, where there is a tree with two trunks, or two trees with trunks grown into one, and other curious symbolic things, the popular wors.h.i.+p of the Deities Susa-no-o and Inada-Hime gradually centred and finally wrested away the rights and privileges of the Kizuki deity in favour of the G.o.ds of Yaegaki.

I have had some fine _shoryo-bune_ made. And I can send you one if you would like. There is a special kind of _shoryo-bune_ made here. Mine, though of straw, is an elaborate model of a junk and could sail for miles. Would you like to send one to Dr. Tylor? Anthropologically, these little boats in which to send the souls home have a rare interest.

LAFCADIO HEARN.

TO BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN

MATSUE, September, 1890.

DEAR PROFESSOR,--I have just returned from my first really great j.a.panese experience,--a trip to Kizuki. The two trips were beautiful. From Shobara the route lies through a superb plain of rice fields, with mountain ranges closing the horizon to left and right.

Reaching Kizuki at night, I sent a letter of introduction from Mr.