Books with title Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life

Generally speaking, we construct for endurance, the Japanese for impermanency. Few things for common use are made in Japan with a view to durability. The straw sandals worn out and replaced at each stage of a journey; the robe consisting of a few simple widths loosely stitched together for wearing, and unstitched again for washing; the fresh chopsticks served to each new guest at a hotel... -from "The Genius of Japanese Civilization" Kokoro, roughly translated into English, means "heart," though it can also signify the emotional mind, spirit, courage, and resolve. In 1896, just as Japan was opening to the West and interest in Japanese culture in the outside world was flowering, Western expatriate Lafcadio Hearn published this charming and insightful valentine to his adopted country. In sweetly lyrical prose, Hearn extols the "strange morality" of Japanese crime and punishment, the startling beauty of Japanese music, the graceful demureness of Japanese women, and much more. Japanophiles and travelers to the East will delight in this extraordinary foreign journal by a traveler so in love with the land that he stayed for the rest of his life. Bohemian and writer PATRICK LAFCADIO HEARN (1850-1904) was born in Greece, raised in Ireland, and worked as newspaper reporter in the United States before decamping to Japan. He also wrote Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894), In Ghostly Japan (1899), and Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation (1904).

The 15 classic essays collected in Kokoro examine the inner spiritual life of Japan. The title itself can be translated as "heart," "spirit" or "inner meaning," and that's exactly what this collection teaches us about Japan. Sometimes touching and always compelling, the writings here tell the stories of the people and social codes that make Japan the unique place it is. "Kimiko" paints the portrait of a beautiful geisha; "By Force of Karma" tells the story of a Buddhist monk; and in "A Conservative," we come to know the thoughts and actions of a Samurai. As an early interpreter of Japan to the West, Lafcadio Hearn was without parallel in his time. His numerous books about that country were read with a fascination that was a tribute to his keen powers of observation and the vividness of his descriptions. Today, even though Japan has changed greatly from what it was when he wrote about it, his writing is still valid, for it captures the essence of the country—an essence that has actually changed a good deal less than outward appearances might suggest. In a word, the Japanese character and the Japanese tradition are still fundamentally the same as Hearn found them to be, and for this reason, his books are still extremely revealing to readers in the West.

"Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life" by Lafcadio Hearn. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

This book is an illustrated version of the original Kokoro by Lafcadio Hearn. 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."

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