learn/[id]

ERA

1 min read

ギ

ERA

A Greek Man Who Fell in Love with Matsue — Lafcadio Hearn and Izumo

In 1890, Lafcadio Hearn arrived in Matsue as a magazine correspondent and fell in love with the city. He taught English, met his wife Setsu, and wrote 'Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan' — revealing a Japan that Western eyes had never seen before.

A deep read

Lafcadio Hearn arrived in Matsue in 1890, found a Japan still untouched by full modernization, and fell in love with it. Teaching English, meeting his wife Setsu, and writing ‘Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,’ he captured a world on the verge of disappearance.

Portrait of Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) — born in Greece, naturalized in Japan, author of Kwaidan

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Symbol of warrior culture — the samurai town atmosphere of Matsue that moved Hearn preserved warrior culture stretching back to the Kamakura period

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Itsukushima Shrine (reference) — the mythological atmosphere of Izumo and the San-in region deeply attracted Hearn's sensibility

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

── END ──

This article was

♡ Helpful

⤴

Key Figures

Lafcadio Hearn