Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo)

Lafcadio Hearn

By Mio Yamada

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn was born in Greece on June 27, 1850, and he passed away in Tokyo when he was 54 years old. He died of the heart failure. In 1865, he lost his left eyesight because of the playground accident, so he always hid his left side of his face when he had his picture taken. He was one of the people who affected Japan so nicely. He was an international writer, and he was interested in Japanese culture and Japanese ghosts.

First, Hearn was a cosmopolitan. His father was Irish, and his mother was Greek. After his parents divorced in 1854, he was well-educated in France and England. In 1859, he was sent to the U.S. and succeeded as a journalist using foreign language when he was in his twenties. He lived in New Orleans for nearly a decade, and he wrote about New Orleans. He was little known at that time, and even now he is little known for his writing about New Orleans. Finally, he came to Japan as a correspondent of America in 1890.

Second, after he came to Japan, he was fascinated by Japanese culture so much. Thus, he canceled a contract, and he started to work as an English teacher in Japan. Next year, he got married to a Japanese woman, Koizumi Setsu. He became naturalized Japanese, assuming the name Koizumi Yakumo. He got Japanese last name from his wife and first name from the region where he lived. Also, he published a lot of books for introducing Japanese culture to American people. Although Japan was unknown and exotic to Westerners at that time, Japanese style became fashionable in Western countries thanks to his books about Japan.

Finally, when he was a little boy, he believed in ghosts, so when he came to Japan, he was really interested in Japanese ghosts. He published not only books about Japanese culture but also books about Japanese ghosts. His major work is Kwaidan. It has a lot of stories such as The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi, Yuki-Onna and so on. Today, many people still set a high valuation on these stories. Also, Koizumi Yakumo Kinenkan was established, which is Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum, in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture in 1933. It has an interesting content called “Matsue ghosts tour.” Guests can go around the places which are associated with Kwaidan story.

To sum up, Patrick Lafcadio Hearn had an international sense because of his childhood. He knew about lots of different cultures, but he was fascinated by Japanese culture most. Also, he decided that he would spend the rest of his life in Japan. He affected Japan so much, but he was also affected by Japanese culture. He was also interested in Japanese ghosts. There are many books about Japanese ghosts which are written by Lafcadio Hearn on Japanese subjects. People in recent years still love his books. Also, his books about Japanese life style from non-Japanese person’s eyes were loved by both Japanese people and Westerners. Hearn changed the image of Japan for Westerners at that time. Therefore, he is absolutely an important person in Japanese history.


References

Lafcadio Hearn. (2014). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn

小泉八雲. (2004). Retrieved from http://www.geocities.jp/bane2161/koizumiyakumo.htm

小泉八雲記念館 Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.matsue-tourism.or.jp/yakumo/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Lafcadio_Hearn.jpg