Kokoro: Hints and Echos of Japanese Inner Life (Tuttle Classics) by Lafcadio Hearn

Kokoro: Hints and Echos of Japanese Inner Life (Tuttle Classics) Reviews

• 
  Smiley

  First appeared in 1896, "Kokoro: Hints and Echos of Japanese Inner Life" by Lafcadio Hearn should be, I think, a reading delight to those Japanophiles keen on everything Japanese. We would find his fifteen essays enchantingly informative from "At a Railway Station", "The Genius of Japanese Civilization", "A Street Singer" and so on till the last, "Kimoko". However, some might be a bit lengthy and wordy till we hit a snag off and on so we may skip some hard parts to chew later when it's sunny and we're in a better mood. Why did he write a lot? He did because he had lived in Japan teaching and writing since 1890. By the way, do not get confused with "Kokoro" (Tuttle 1969) a nineteenth-century novel by Nasume Soseki, it is of different genre.
  
  Today I read and found its three-ballard appendix enjoyable; the three popular ballards written from his settlement visit with a Japanese friend in Matsue, Izumo in spring 1891 have permitted his readers to know him more. As for the ballard of Yaoya O-Shichi, a fifteen-year-old beautiful girl, who notoriously set fire out of her love, I would verify and see if there's such a pathetic story in a book by Ihara Saikaku.
• 
  Javier

  Lafcadio Hearn es conocido sobre todo por sus cuentos de fantasmas, pero gran parte de su producción se centra en describir el Japón de la era Meiji. Kokoro es un de los escasos libros de este corte publicados en vida del autor que tiene traducción directa al castellano, y tanto por su extensión como por el contenido, es uno de los más asequibles. Lástima que la edición española sea tan mala que arruine en buena medida la experiencia de lectura. Es muy triste ver, por ejemplo, que se confunde "pipa" (las pipas japonesas, de las que Hearn era un loco coleccionista y aficionado) por "tubería", de modo que el sentido de uno de los textos cambia por completo. Otros detalles, como la mención en la introducción a los tres hijos que tuvo el escritor (en realidad fueron cuatro, aunque uno de ellos cambiara de apellido para salvar una rama de su familia política en peligro de extinción) ponen de relieve el escaso conocimiento de los editores.
  
  El libro lo conforman once pequeños ensayos, tres de los cuales —incluido el de la "tubería"— recoge Acantilado en
  En el país de los dioses con una calidad y un mimo a la altura (la editorial catalana demuestra un vez más su buen olfato, ya que estos tres textos son de lo mejor y más representativo de Kokoro y de Hearn). Me han gustado especialmente otras tres piezas en torno a la mujer japonesa bajo diversos enfoques —la madre, la geisha, la esposa— que además se dejan leer en la traducción. El resto tiene un pulso más débil, más teórico y obsoleto, sin el encanto de las descripciones costumbristas, pero quizá rescataría "En el crepúsculo de los dioses", de aura no especialmente japonesa.
  
  En líneas generales Kokoro me ha parecido un muy buen libro, siempre que se lea en inglés, así como el perfecto complemento a la imprescindible antología En el país de los dioses.
• 
  Karl

  This is a 1927 copy of the book, with an all white dust jacket with the title and authors name printed on the center left hand side of the dust jacket.
• 
  Carole

  I enjoy reading anything by Lafcadio Hearn. He's got a writing voice that is full of emotion and that is beautifully evocative.
  
  Kokoro is a mix of anecdotes and reflections all revolving around Japanese emotional life, which are conveyed wonderfully by Hearn's style. There is no overall pattern to the book other than the connection of the emotional itself.
  
  The short anecdotes give snippets of Japanese life stories, a little window into moments here and there of a long lost world. There are fifteen chapters, each fairly self-sufficient, and all presenting in Hearn's elegant style these little moments of life.
  
  Hearn brings in a certain amount of reflections and observation about the culture's emotionality and self. He gets especially drawn to the religious life of the culture, tracing connections to Western concepts of the time, which is utterly fascinating to any academic with an interest in the perceptions of both the West and the Orient in the end of the 19th Century.
  
  This selection of stories is like a prism of emotion and ideas from a long forgotten place, nostalgic and beautiful... Read it.
• 
  Praj

  A variety of anecdotes and journal entries printed in 1896 during the Meiji era (1868-1912) connotes Hearn’s strong conviction in spirituality, ethnicity, fine arts and nationality of Japan, a mysterious and exotic land to the Westerners waiting to be explored.
• 
  Jazzy Lemon

  Great portrayal of Japanese life from a westerner in 1896. Written in a more journalistic tone, but leaves a lot to muse over.
• 
  Nique 💫 chroniqled ✨

  ✨Kokoro by Lafcadio Hearn✨
  
  This book is a brilliant analysis of the collective Japanese heart, from an honest outsider’s perspective. By heart, i mean— the emotional aspects, the spiritual beliefs, and the upheld values in society within the Japanese culture.
  
  First of all, I must say that Hearn’s prose is as vivid as it gets. He writes in a way that reads like fiction— as if life simply couldn’t be as beautiful as he describes. Well, who wouldn’t be completely enamoured with Japan, though— immersed as he was in this beloved country.
  
  This book is known as “Hearn’s love letter” to Japan, and it was so sincerely written that I couldn’t help but admire the way he saw Japanese culture from his foreign point of view— how he always held Japan’s beauty in wonder and amazement. I must admit that if I, too, were in his shoes, I would feel the same way.
  
  It felt almost enchanting, as if I was a character in a Ghibli movie— but I had to remind myself that these are actually *real* accounts and that the author was there to experience it all. I can only be grateful that he allowed us to experience these stories with him, by writing this book.
  
  This was such a beautiful read, and of course i give it 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
  
  I do acknowledge my inherent bias towards Japanese culture. As I’ve said, over and over again, I have always adored Japan since I was young, and it’s a culture I will always be fascinated in. I will never get tired of knowing more about the Japanese way of life— may it be through historical accounts, or fiction written by classic & modern authors. This perfectly explains why most of my reads here on my page are Japanese lit.
  
  I highly recommend this nonfiction read to Japanese culture enthusiasts such as myself. 🥰♥️✨
  
  Thank you so much, @tuttlepublishing for gifting me this gorgeous copy 💞 #niquereviews
• 
  Alex Pler

  De Lafcadio Hearn conocía sus cuentos, todas esas leyendas de tradición oral que salvó del olvidado gracias a sus traducciones al inglés. Pero han sido sus ensayos editados con el título de Kokoro (corazón, alma y mente) los textos que me han hecho comprender por qué este autor es tan venerado incluso en Japón. A lo largo de breves y variados artículos el Hearn profundiza en la vida íntima de Japón, con una capacidad de observación y entendimiento que leídos ahora siguen pareciéndonos visionarios. Mi favoritos los textos que analizan los conceptos de karma y de preexistencia desde las perspectivas occidental y oriental.
• 
  Charles

  Having lived and loved Japanese people, I think this was an excellent translation of a simple, profound story. Really a story within a story, by the end, with both the Sensei and the disciple crippled by an inability to express themselves at the most important time. Where the outside seems like silence, the inner turmoil boils and subjects the self to constant reproach and criticism. It ends with an epiphany of expected tragedy, as regret and doublt form a fog throughout the story. Without modern technology, communication, media, this is a world of reading, letters, spoken and imagined conversation, and the silence of even death.
• 
  Eadweard

  Enjoyed the insight into the politics of the time, and the first Sino-Japanese war. You start to see how Japan transformed itself from a backwards isolated country into a regional power. What would Hearn think of the new Japan, and its imperialism through Asia and WWII?
• 
  Alex

  This book is the author's reflections on the Japanese soul, pleasingly philosophical and poetic, deserving to be read multiple times.
• 
  Owlseyes

  
  https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...
• 
  Nguyễn Linh

  Năm 1905, Đế quốc Nga đại bại trước quân đội Nhật, lần đầu tiên kể từ khi bắt đầu quá trình thực dân, một cường quốc Châu Âu phải chịu thất bại nhục nhã trước một quốc gia Á Đông. Cuộc chiến ở một góc châu lục ấy làm cả thế giới phương tây ngỡ ngàng và đánh giá lại Nhật Bản- người “học trò” nhỏ nhắn và cầu thị của những “người thầy” da trắng. Họ hoảng sợ trước sự trưởng thành vượt bậc của dân tộc vốn mấy mươi năm trước tràn ngập tô giới của họ.
  
  Nhưng, vào năm 1896, tức vào 10 năm trước “cuộc đại chiến đầu tiên của thế kỷ 20” ấy, có một nhà văn, nhà báo kiêm một giảng viên và kẻ lãng tử Lafcadio Hearn đã dự đoán được điều đó, và dự đoán nhiều khác nữa, chỉ bằng việc nghiên cứu kỹ càng phẩm chất nội tại của con người Nhật, của văn hoá Nhật.
  
  ***
  
  Với khả năng của mình, bằng nhiều cách khác nhau, Hearn đã vẽ lên một bức tranh xã hội Nhật Bản trong hơn 300 trang giấy ở thời khắc lịch sử:
  
  Nước Nhật, sau mấy mươi năm duy tân Minh Trị đang gặt hái được những quả ngọt đầu tiên của mình: chiến thắng kiêu hãnh trước hạm đội hùng mạnh nhất Châu Á, một cường quốc lịch sử hàng đầu- nhà Thanh, và quá trình mở mang thuộc địa đầu tiên đến bán đảo Triều Tiên và Đài Loan mà không mất một chiếc thuyền.
  
  Một xã hội Nhật hồ hởi trước chiến thắng vĩ đại của dân tộc; một xã hội Nhật Bản đan cài giữa cái cũ và cái mới; một xã hội Nhật Bản đoạn tuyệt hoàn toàn trọng thị với Trung Hoa và đang là người học trò xuất sắc của Phương tây để rồi nhằm đến mục tiêu duy nhất là xây dựng nước Nhật hùng mạnh; một nước Nhật hậu chiến với những vấn đề tồn tại, với những quan niệm thủ cựu chưa thể mất đi và với những mối quan hệ luân lý đang dần hoà với cuộc sống đương đại.
  
  ***
  
  Thật khó để phân định Kokoro là thuộc thể loại gì.
  
  Nếu như coi đó là một loạt tiểu luận, như nhiều người nghiên cứu thành danh khác đánh giá, thì ta không thể lý giải được những câu chuyện tràn đầy xúc cảm văn chương như Ở gia xe lửa, Ni cô chùa A Di đà, Haru...những câu văn đậm chất Nhật Bản, mà sau này ta dễ bắt gặp ở những nhà văn Nhật Bản khác.
  
  Nhưng nếu coi đây là một tập truyện ngắn, thì ta càng không thể lý giải được những tiểu luận dài về Thiên tính của Văn Minh Nhật Bản, Ý niệm về Tiền kiếp, Một số ý tưởng về thờ cúng tổ tiên... với những câu văn sắc gọn của một ký giả, của một nhà dân tộc học bẩm sinh.
  
  Và hàng loạt phần trong Kokoro khó phân định giữa truyện và luận, những nét vắn tắt trong cuộc đời dài ở Người thủ cựu, Hậu chiến...làm ta rối chí.
  
  Mình đọc lướt qua những tiểu luận dài giới thiệu nhắm đến người phương Tây, lặng người trước những con chữ đầy tình thương và suy tư trước những nhận định của Lafcadio Hearn về thế cuộc nước Nhật:
  
  “nếu Trung Hoa đi theo những phương pháp CN phương Tây, họ sẽ có thể cho giá thấp hơn Chúng ta (Nhật Bản) ở mọi thị trường trên thế giới”
  
  “ sự thịnh vượng của không nằm đúng ở khả năng cho giá thấp hơn các quốc gia láng giềng. Hàng hoá của [Pháp] được ưa chuộng nhất thế giới.... tại sao Nhật Bản không nên trở thành nước Pháp ở vùng viễn Đông chứ?”
  
  ***
  
  Điểm:
  
  8/10
  
  - Giấy tốt, bìa cực đẹp, mình thấy xấu hổ do không có đủ ánh sáng để chụp được những bông hoa đào mạ nhũ đỏ ở bìa sách, chúng lấp lánh vô cùng.
  
  - Nội dung ổn, truyện ngắn siêu hay còn tiểu luận thì mình đọc thấy ổn, nhiều đoạn lan man mình đọc lướt.
  
  - Nhược: nhiều đoạn hướng đến giới thiệu Nhật cho người phương tây, kiến thức về mảng ấy mình tương đối nên sẽ thấy lan man.
• 
  Ad

  Hearn's third book on Japan, written in 1896. "Kokoro" means heart, and Hearn intends to delve into the hearts of the Japanese here.
  
  Hearn writes his strongest pieces when he jots down his own reminiscences, as in
  Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (his best book in my view) or through the retelling of Japanese stories (as in
  Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things; but he is at his weakest when he writes journalistic pieces on the development of Japan (as in his last book,
  Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation) or essays on more general topics - these two categories also age quickly and therefore contain too many statements about Japan that are not true anymore (moreover, today it is unacceptable that - as a follower of Herbert Spencer - Hearn keeps writing in terms of "Race" about culture), this in contrast to the stories and reminiscences which are still fresh and alive today. The bad news is that this volume mainly contains journalistic pieces and essays, making it one of the lesser books by Hearn, and one that therefore has aged rather fast.
  
  Interesting vignettes are in contrast "A Street Singer" about a blind singer of great talent and "Kimiko," about a long suffering wife.
  
  Note:
  Kokoro is also the title of the most famous novel by the great author
  Natsume Sōseki.
  
  See my website for more on Lafcadio Hearn:
  https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/20...
• 
  Max Nemtsov

  Своеобразный, но по большей части отличный сборник очерков (и сказок) о «загадочной японской душе», где местами Хёрн больше всего напоминает Гиляровского. В конце XIX века это был вообще популярный модус высказывания, жаль, что сейчас такого мало: видимо, больше нечего открывать (а тут все-таки есть легкий упор на экзотику, хотя до читателя автор не снисходит — излагает все как для нормальных людей).
  Своеобразие же, во-первых, в том, что понятие «кокоро» Хёрн толкует как «расовый характер». Ну и примечателен его угол зрения в «послевоенных» «патриотических» очерках — такой джингоистский. Речь, понятно, о Первой японо-китайской войне (1894-95). Россия в ней выступает лишь мрачным пугалом — с японской точки зрения: Хёрн стоит на позициях чуть ли «крымнашевских» в современном изводе: он больше японский патриот, чем сами японцы и с большой любовью описывает весь этот имперский ксенофобский кошмар. Какой ценой страна его потом в ХХ веке изживала, мы знаем, изжила ли — уже другой вопрос. Но с культурологической точки зрения и это бесценно, хотя Японию (да и душу ее) он, понятно, идеализирует (Западный мир, в конце концов, был к нему лично довольно жесток).
  Тут есть два его вполне программных текста: эссе о научности (в западном смысле) буддизма и «Несколько мыслей о поклонении предкам». В основном, автор многословно доказывает нам, чем Восток лучше Запада, ибо там «мертвые правят живыми», хотя иногда сам себе несколько противоречит: многие восточные практики мало чем отличаются от западных, если вдуматься, например — посмертное присуждение званий и наград, хотя, мы понимаем, ритуал это крайне нелепый. «Нашит мертвые нас не оставят в живых», в общем.
  А раздражает больше всего в этих текстах его постоянное апеллирование к «душе» и «духовному» в западном смысле — даже когда он опровергает ее существование с буддистских позиций. Но он тут прозелитирует, так что и это, в общем, можно извинить.
• 
  Patrick McCoy

  Lafcadiio Hearn is a fascinating literary figure. He was born in Greece as the son of a Irish father and Greek mother, and eventually made his way to America where he became a writer in Cincinnati, Ohio before moving on to New Orleans where he would live for 10 years and write extensively about that city and the and its vibrant multi-cultured populace. I was aware of His Japanese writings but first encountered his New Orleans writing when it was referenced in David Simon's HBO drama series Treme. Since then I read two of his most famous works, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan and Kawaidan: Stories and a Studies of Strange Things. Kokoro: Hints and Echos of Japanese Inner Life (1896) reminds me of those New Orleans pieces in the variety and breath of his scope-Hearn was interested in all aspects of life, high and low and saw diversity as a benefit and had a thirst for knowledge. There are 15 essays and an appendix of "Three Popular Ballads" that recounted from an experience he had in Matsue, Shimane prefecture. My favorite essays in the collection are his personal accounts of daily life in Japan that are best represented by the first and last essays in the collection. In the first, "At a Railway Station" he recounts the story of a repentant thief who murdered a family man and felt enough remorse to kill himself (apparently he made his name in Cincinnati as a crime reporter). The last essay, "Kimiko" is the story of the life of a geisha who entered the profession in order to care for her family. The slice of life essays were of the most interest to me, but he also had some more philosophical essays such as "The Idea of Preexistence." I am attracted to his curiosity and attention to detail, these essays are now more than a 100 years old and give the reader a glimpse of what Japan used to be, but they still have relevance today as well.
• 
  Marija S.

  Since this work is in the public domain, it can be found as a free audiobook on LIBRIVOX page:
  
  
  https://librivox.org/kokoro-by-lafcad...
  
  as I have, also on PROJECT GUTTENBERG page:
  
  
  http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8882
  
  
  The accounts by the author are particularly precious, having in mind the book was originally published in 1896.(!), which means we are privileged to see glimpses of Japan that had just reluctantly and with mixed feelings begun opening up to foreigners after the ultimate fall of the shogunate, before both World Wars, the economic prosperity and the burst of the bubble economy today's Japan is known for.
  
  The author is sometimes poetic but never tiring in his observations of the Japanese culture which still ring familiar today. The only parts of the book I disliked were essays on Buddhism and nature of the soul, where the author displayed his philosophical side. These were not bad in themselves, however they did not pique my interest since they were not the reason I picked this book. Apart from that, Lafcadio Hearn was a talented author and a keen observer, an extraordinary man who lived in the exotic new land we today know as Japan (and still find somewhat exotic). Note that some of his predictions for the Japanese nation were eerily accurate.
  
  Edit: March 2018. After learning more about the author and his interesting life story, re reading of the book was even more insightful.
• 
  Peter

  In Japanese the term "Kokoro" literally means 'heart' which is what this collection of essays is attempting to achieve; delving into the heart of late 19th-century Japanese life. Sometimes this is done through short story ("At a Railway Station", "A Street Singer") and other times through essay ("The Idea of Pre-Existance", "Some Thoughts about Ancestor Worship). I found that each of these was a mixed bag in terms of quality, but in the end both had the effect of translating some complex social issues in a way that I believe to be still relevant in modern day Japan.
  
  The writing, though over 120 years old, was actually pretty easy to read when it was good and understandably difficult when it wasn't (though the good far outweighed the bad). An interesting and educational read for sure, particularly in regards to Shintoism, the "Race-Soul", Buddhism, ancestor-worship, and cultural ideals of the time. What makes it more interesting is that it was written by a white man who spent his life traveling the world, only to wind up settling down in this country that he so loved. It seemed in his years there he achieved a level of understanding that is admirable both in his ability to assimilate the culture and to translate that into the written word.
  
  Good read overall, but I will admit I did skip the last 60 pages of Appendix, I can only do so much!
• 
  Aida

  No es una gran obra, eso está claro. Sin embargo, he disfrutado mucho de su lectura. A excepción de algunos capítulos, muy tediosos y densos a veces, los demás me han aportado una visión diferente, realista y preciosa de las costumbres, vida y formas de pensar orientales.
  
  Para quien esté interesado en saber un poquito más de esa cultura tan especial y atrayente como es la oriental, más concretamente la japonesa, es muy recomendable este libro. Lafcadio Hearn, un poco sesgado por lo hipnotizado y unido que se encontraba de aquél lugar que se convirtió en su hogar de acogida, narra de forma muy amena (de forma que un occidental pueda entender), cómo piensa, actúa y se desarrolla, tanto psicológicamente como socialmente o económicamente, una persona de allí.
  
  Además, el libro es corto y su lectura se hace ligera. Muy buenas sensaciones y recomendable, por supuesto.
• 
  Wayward Child

  I enjoyed this far more than I`d thought I would. I especially liked the story `Dust`. My jaw dropped to the floor when I began reading it, because it more or less summed up my perspective of life. Nothing is eternal in its current form, but that doesn`t mean we will cease to exist completely. It goes on to explain something I believed to be just my own, private and personal outlook, describing it better than I ever could. Plus, this story goes even further, connecting my theory not only with our bodies and material lives, but also our emotions and feelings, deeming them a lost relic of the dead.
• 
  Pablo Flores

  “Kokoro” is a series of (monstly unconnected) essays and observations on sociological matters and retellings of legends and folk stories, gathered by Hearn in Japan at the end of the 19th century. As such, some chapters are fairly entertaining and provide a curious basis for comparison with today's Japan; some (such as that devoted to the Sino-Japanese war) paint a horrifying (in hindsight) picture of a country ready for suicidal fascism; others reflect the now discredited ideas of Hearn's and his contemporaries' about race and the genius of peoples. The reader should not expect a well-rounded book but a collection of snapshots.
• 
  Norman Howe

  An interesting backgrounder on the people of Japan. Published in 1894, it provides respectful insight into the minds and hearts of the Japanese people. If western powers had paid more attention to the differences from Occidental society, as does this collection of essays, the events leading to Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War might never have occurred.
  
  I actually downloaded this book from Librivox, mistaking it for the novel by Natsume Soseki, which is on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. "Kokoro," meaning "Heart," is not an uncommon word in book titles concerning Japan. Who knew?
• 
  Lindsay

  An interesting read looking at a Japan that no longer exists. I thought the tales were more interesting than Hearn's discussions of Japanese spirituality and his division of the Japanese race from the rest of humanity, which didn't sit right. It's interesting to think what Hearn would think to look at the changes that have occurred in Japan since he wrote the book, with its skyscrapers and consumer culture.
• 
  Jim

  Lafcadio Hearn, one of the few outsiders to really understand New Orleans, lived the last 14 years of his life in Japan, from 1890 to 1904. Kokoro offer vignettes and interpretations of life and meaning in Japan at that time, and still offers some instruction about life and the mode of living there since.
• 
  Paul Hartzog

  This book is an attempt to understand Japanese culture, written in the 1890s. It's a good read as long as you take into account when it was written. Before the understanding of genetics, words like "race" were the way difference was articulated.
  
  The offerings on cholera, fairy-tales, ancestor worship, etc. are very interesting...
• 
  Sarah

  First part, Buddhism-infused philosophical essays insisting that human knowledge is shared collectively and inherited, was almost insufferable. At the end he relates several Japanese folk tales, which were lovely as always and made up for the abysmal first two-thirds.
• 
  Elisa

  Poetic and concise, this book offers multiple views of Japan, from historical accounts to popular legends to spiritual essays.
  
  It's a bit of a hodge-podge but it's comprehensive, unbiased, and well-written.