Kokoro
Japanese Inner Life Hints
Lafcadio Hearn
I. AT A RAILWAY STATION
II. THE GENIUS OF JAPANESE CIVILIZATION
III. A STREET SINGER
IV. FROM A TRAVELING DIARY
V. THE NUN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMIDA
VII. HARU
VIII. A GLIMPSE OF TENDENCIES
IX. BY FORCE OF KARMA
X. A CONSERVATIVE
XI. IN THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
XII. THE IDEA OF PRE-EXISTENCE
XIII. IN CHOLERA-TIME
XIV. SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT ANCESTOR-WORSHIP
XV. KIMIKO
X. THE REVIVAL
XI. THE INTERVIEW
XII. THE VENGEANCE
THE BALLAD OF O-SHICHI, THE DAUGHTER OF THE YAOYA (1)
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). Written with the above character, 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."
KOBE September 15, 1895.
I. AT A RAILWAY STATION
Seventh day of the sixth Month; - twenty-sixth of Meiji.
Yesterday a telegram from Fukuoka announced that a desperate criminal captured there would be
brought for trial to Kumamoto to-day, on the train due at noon. A Kumamoto policeman had gone to
Fukuoka to take the prisoner in charge.
Four years ago a strong thief entered some house by night in the Street of the Wrestlers, terrified and
bound the inmates, and carried away a number of valuable things. Tracked skillfully by the police, he
was captured within twenty-four hours, - even before he could dispose of his plunder. But as he was
being taken to the police station he burst his bonds, snatched the sword of his captor, killed him, and
escaped. Nothing more was heard of him until last week.
Then a Kumamoto detective, happening to visit the Fukuoka prison, saw among the toilers a face that
had been four years photographed upon his brain. "Who is that man?" he asked the guard. "A thief," was
the reply, - "registered here as Kusabe." The detective walked up to the prisoner and said: -
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