Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

The works of Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) played a critical role in introducing his adopted Japan to a worldwide audience. In Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life, he writes, The papers composing this volume treat of the inner rather than of the outer life of Japan, - for which reason they have been grouped under the title Kokoro (heart). This word signifies also mind, in the emotional sense; spirit; courage; resolve; sentiment; affection; and inner meaning, - just as we say in English, ‘the heart of things.’ After centuries of isolation Meiji-era Japan was forced to adjust its customs and beliefs to Western influences, and Hearn reflects on the value of these traditions of the heart as seen in Japanese popular justice, arts, economy, patriotism, and religion. Chapters include: At a Railway Station - The Genius of Japanese Civilization - A Street Singer - From a Traveling Diary - The Nun of the Temple of Amida - After the War - Haru - A Glimpse of Tendencies - By Force of Karma - A Conservative - In the Twilight of the Gods - The Idea of Preexistence - In Cholera-Time - Some Thoughts About Ancestor-Worship - Kimiko - Three Popular Ballads: The Ballad of Shuntoku-maru - The Ballad of Oguri-Hangwan - The Ballad of O-Shichi, the Daughter of the Yaoya.