The Writings of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 5Houghton Mifflin, 1922 - Authors, American |
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Common terms and phrases
Akira altar ancient bamboo beautiful become believed Benten Bimbogami blue boat bronze Buddha Buddhist called cavern charm Chinese clapping color court curious Daimyō dance dark dead deity divine dragons dream Enoshima eyes face feet figure foxes gate geta ghostly ghosts girl Goddess gods Guji hakama hands head hills Hinomisaki holy Hoso-no-Kami hundred Inari IYAJI Izanami Izumo Japan Japanese Jizō kakemono Kamakura Kami kannushi KIDAHACHI kitsune Kitzuki Kōbōdaishi Kojiki Kokuzō Kwannon Kyōto land lanterns legend light look lotus Matsue matting miko Mionoseki miya naked never night ofuda paper pass pilgrims pray prayer pretty priest rice robe rock rōnin roof sacred Sai-no-Kawara seen shadow shape shimenawa Shinto shrine smile soft souls sound stands statue steps stone strange straw street temple things thousand tiny torii trees unto votive weird woman wooden worship Yamabushi
Popular passages
Page 5 - The sun is only pleasantly warm; the jinrikisha, or kuruma, is the most cosy little vehicle imaginable; and the street-vistas, as seen above the dancing white mushroomshaped hat of my sandaled runner, have an allurement of which I fancy that I could never weary.
Page 309 - The old man answered, saying : " I had originally eight young girls as daughters. But the eight-forked serpent of Koshi has come every year and devoured one, and it is now its time to come, wherefore we weep.
Page 108 - IV IT is so narrow, the Street of the Aged Men, that by stretching out one's arms one can touch the figured sign-draperies before its tiny shops on both sides at once. And these little ark-shaped houses really seem toy-houses; that in which Akira lives is even smaller than the rest, having no shop...
Page 212 - Hirata, who were its greatest scholars. But the reality of Shinto lives not in books, nor in rites, nor in commandments, but in the national heart, of which it is the highest emotional religious expression, immortal and ever young. Far underlying all the surface crop of quaint superstitions and artless myths and fantastic magic there thrills a mighty spiritual force, the whole soul of a race with all its impulses and powers and intuitions. He who would know what Shinto is must learn to know that...
Page 12 - Pacific could not contain what you wish to purchase. For, although you may not, perhaps, confess the fact to yourself, what you really want to buy is not the contents of a shop; you want the shop and the shopkeeper, and streets of shops with their draperies and their habitants, the whole city and the bay and the mountains begirdling it, and Fujiyama's white witchery overhanging it in the speckless sky, all Japan, in very truth, with its magical trees and luminous atmosphere, with all its cities and...
Page 310 - ... with his bidding, the eight-forked serpent came truly as [the old man] had said, and immediately dipped a head into each vat, and drank the liquor. Thereupon it was intoxicated with drinking, and all [the heads] lay down and slept. Then Susa-no-o drew the ten-grasp sabre, that was augustly girded on him, and cut the serpent in pieces, so that the River Hi flowed on changed into a river of blood.
Page xii - And except where native morals have suffered by foreign contamination, as in the open ports, these words are true of the Japanese to-day. My own conviction, and that of many impartial and more experienced observers of Japanese life, is that Japan has nothing whatever to gain by conversion to Christianity, either morally or otherwise, but very much to lose.
Page 308 - Scholiasts and priests create or promulgate doctrine and dogma; but the good people always insist upon making the gods according to their own heart — and these are by far the better class of gods. Moreover, the history of...
Page xi - ... when it is most needed. We owe more to our illusions than to our knowledge. The imagination, which is altogether constructive, probably contributes more to our happiness than the reason, which in the sphere of speculation is mainly critical and destructive. The rude charm which in the hour of danger or distress the savage clasps so confidently to his breast, the sacred picture which is believed to shed a hallowing and protecting influence over the poor man's cottage, can bestow a more real consolation...
Page 140 - Such are the words of the great Shinto teacher, Hirata, as translated by Mr. Satow in his article, The Revival of Pure Shintau.