Volume II Part 26 (1/2)

Mr Katayaoing to have a large copy made of it, and have it mounted as a little _kakes: they are the real japan--the hurace of it As for the so-called New japan,--with its appearance of Occidentalism, and its utter loss of the old poetry and the old courtesy--well, however necessary it may be, it is certainly as much of a moral loss as it is a ht and the sound of all that is new

I had a letter from Ochiai, which I shall answer in a day or so;--for the moment I am behind with all my correspondence What can be the matter with the lad? He did not tell me the nature of his sickness

I ah, on the very same day, I had a letter from one of the cleverest of the kuth, but who has broken down after a year at the university Soone ive up The strain is too great because the hardshi+p is too great,--the cold, the poor cheap food, the poor thin clothes ”Hardy” the lads claim to be So naturally they are--much hardier than Europeans in certain respects But soy see--can keep hardy while the heavy strain of study is unsupported by good living I think most of the lads I knoho died or went mad would never have even fallen sick if they had had only hard physical labour Physical labour is not dangerous, but strengthening And in the Govern for the lads: everybody has to do the best he can for hih the est

Ever, with best regards of all of us, LAFCADIO HEARN (KOIZUMI YAkumO)

TO PAGE M BAKER

KOBE, March, 1896

DEAR PAGE,--I have your exquisite photo of Constance--like a bit of marble it is And I have your letter--a very dear letter, though--excusethe typewriter!

I have been very sick with inflas, and unable to move until recently But I shall soon, I hope, be able to send you so

About my name Koizumi is a family name: I take my wife's name as her husband by adoption--the only way in which I could beco” or ”little source”

The other name means ”many clouds,” and is an alternate poetical na of Clouds” For I became a citizen of the province of Izuistered The word is also the first word of theto a legend of the sacred records _Please do not publish this!_ it is a little private lance by a japanese, would require es to make clear As to your other question, I alear the japanese dress at hoe cities I wear Western clothes when I go on the street; because it does not do there for anose to be too ”japanesey”--there has been a surplus of ”japanesey” display on the part of foreigners of the jocose class I a japanese

And you have been very sick too Do you know that I aht die before we ain? I very often think about you Please take every care of yourself,--all the outing you can I think, though, you are a long-lived tough race--you Bakers; and that Page M Baker will be writing some day an obituary of Lafcadio Hearn that was,--with many pleasant observations which the said Lafcadio never deserved and never will deserve

You think I am misanthropic--no, not exactly; but I do feel an intense hatred for the business class of Northern mankind You know I never could learn o North And you will remember that settled dislikes or likes come to this creature at intervals--never thereafter to depart My last horror--one that I can scarcely bear--is what is called ”business correspondence” That is why I say that I dislike the sight of typewriting--though I assure you, dear Page, I aet a line from you written or printed in any way, shape, or forht I dreamed Do you remember that splendid Creole who used to be your city editor--whose voice seemed to co nice? John----? Is it not a sin that I have forgotten his name? Next to yourself I see hiure of the old days He recited ”The Portrait” of Owen Meredith in that caressing abys to hi chair in the old office, and told ; but I was vaguely annoyed by the fact that he ”avoided the point” So I interrupted, and said: ”But you do not tellthat Then the light in his eyes went out, and there was nothing I woke up in the dark and wondered

For six years in japan I have been walking up and down--over matted floors--by myself, just as I used to do in that room you wrote me from

Curiously, my little boy has the same habit It is very difficult to make him keep still at , then walk up and down, or run, then another nibble, etc--I hope the Gods will save hi other forrows up:--for example, if he should take a foolish fancy to every da common-sense, which he seems to inherit, will counterbalance the fantasticalities bequeathed him by me It has only been since his entrance into this world that I fully realize what a ”disgraceful person” I used to be

I live pretty n friends and very few japanese friends outside of ood ed to be you can iine from the fact that sometimes for months no one sees me except home-folks I hen I can; and when I cannot I bury myself in studies--philosophical studies: you can scarcely believe how they interest me now, and I find worlds of inspiration in them--new perceptions of cos take their course Probably next year I shall be leading a busier life; but I don't knohether japanese officialisth of time I had one dose of it too much already The people are the best in the world; the arcons_

The old men are divine: I do not know any other word to express what they are When you h, there is a distorted quality about him that makes him a unique monster--he is like an awry caricature of a Western mean felloithout the vim and push--solid conteine what he may be

Every transition period has its peculiar monsters

I wonder, wonder, wonder whether I shall see you again,--and walk up and down on that cocoanutto the co-room Perhaps I couldlooked back at it froht thousand odd miles

LAFCADIO HEARN (Y KOIZUMI)

TO SENTARO NIshi+DA

KOBE, April, 1896

DEAR NIshi+DA,--It et your letter, and to hear fro to understand the japanese a little better My other books have had success in Europe as well as A French review (_Revue des Deux Mondes_) had a long article about me; and the _Spectator_, the _Athenaeulish journals have been kind Still, I ah to take the praise for praise of fact,--feelingmore pleased with the approval of a japanese friend than with the verdict of a foreign revieho, necessarily, knows nothing to speak of about japan But one thing _is_ encouraging,--namely, that whatever I write about japan hereafter will be widely read in Europe and elsewhere,--so that Itranslated into Gerot a beautiful letter from Mr Senke the other day, to which he has, I trust, by this time the answer,--in which I told hiain in about another month Setsu, mother, and the boy come with me Kazuo is now much better--except morally;--he is more mischievous than ever I want him to have as much of the sea this summer as he can bear And I want to swim at Kizuki and Mionoseki, and to talk to you all I can--without tiring you

I have been away I have been at Ise, Futami, and nearly a week in Osaka Ise disappointed me a little The scenery is superb; but I like Kizuki better At Ise there is so much money,--such enormous hotels,--such modernization: the place did not _feel_ holy to me, as Kizuki did Even the _miko_ won't show their faces for less than five yen Besides, it was bitterly cold, and hurt htedKyoto, it is certainly thecity on this side of japan And I could never tell you how Tennoji delighted me--what a queer, dear old teht a sword, and saw the grave of the eleven sa soain to kill a fewextraordinary lies about japan at this present moment I would rather live a month in Osaka than ten years free of rent in Tokyo

Speaking of Tokyo reement with the university is not yet assured Day before yesterday I had a letter fro a japanese citizen had raised a difficulty ”which,” he wrote, ”we et over somehow”

I wrote him that I was not worried about the matter, and had never allowedalso that I would not accept any low salary What he will next write I don't know, and don't very much care If Matsue were a little war there Indeed I think that even after a few years in Tokyo, I should be asking to get back to Matsue; and in any event I hope to et such a _yashi+ki_ as I had--I mean buy one for my own home--Matsue would be a very happy place to work and study in Besides, if my health keeps fair, I can hope eventually to be able to travel in the coldest winter months, and then the Matsue climate would make no difference for me In summer it is delicious Even Setsu now thinks it better to live in the interior; and I shall be glad to escape froners here, and like them less than ever