A Note from the Digitizer
On Japanese Pronunciation
Although simplified, the following general rules will help the readerunfamiliar with Japanese to come close enough to Japanese pronunciation.
There are five vowels: a (as in fAther), i (as in machIne), u (as in fOOl), e(as in fEllow), and o (as in mOle). Although certain vowels become nearly“silent” in some environments, this phenomenon can be safelyignored for the purpose at hand.
Consonants roughly approximate their corresponding sounds in English, exceptfor r, which is actually somewhere between r and l (this is why the Japanesehave trouble distinguishing between English r and l), and f, which is muchcloser to h.
The spelling “KWAIDAN” is based on premodern Japanesepronunciation; when Hearn came to Japan, the orthography reflecting thispronunciation was still in use. In modern Japanese the word is pronouncedKAIDAN.
There are many ellipses in the text. Hearn often used them in this book; theydo not represent omissions by the digitizer.
Author’s original notes are in brackets, those by the digitizer are inparentheses.
| BLOWING HER BREATH UPON HIM |
| BUTTERFLY DANCE |
The publication of a new volume of Lafcadio Hearn’s exquisite studies ofJapan happens, by a delicate irony, to fall in the very month when the world iswaiting with tense expectation for news of the latest exploits of Japanesebattleships. Whatever the outcome of the present struggl