Japanese writer (1868–1932)
Koizumi Setsuko (、26 February 1868 - 18 February 1932), also known as Koizumi Setsu () was the wife of the writer Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo). She helped Lafcadio in writing, and is author of "Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn" ()"." Her registered given name in the "koseki" was "Setsu", but she preferred "Setsuko".
Born as a daughter of the Koizumi family, whose members had served the Matsue Domain feudal clan in Izumo, at the age of 22 she married Hearn, who lived in Matsue as an English teacher. Since she liked stories from childhood, she helped her husband to understand Japanese folk tales and supported his writing about Japan.
Early life.
Koizumi Setsu was born on 4 February 1868. Her father was Koizumi Yaemon Minato, bangashira of the domain of Matsue feudal clan in Izumo whose karoku (hereditary stipend) was 400 koku, and her mother was Chie. Soon after she was born, she was adopted by the Inagaki family.
She liked stories from childhood, and often listened to fairy tales, folk tales, and local legends. After the Meiji Restoration, shizoku families lost stipends and were impoverished, and the Inagaki family was no exception: Setsuko graduated from primary school with excellent academic records and hoped to enter further education, but she had to work as a weaver at the age of 11.
When Setsuko was 18, the Inagaki family adopted a son of a shizoku family Maeda Tameji as their mukoyōshi (adopted son-in-law) and Setsuko's husband, but he left the family within a year since he could not bear the poverty. In 1890, Setsuko officially got divorce and returned to the Koizumi family.
Marriage to Lafcadio.
The date of the marriage of Setsuko and Lafcadio is uncertain. According to Setsuko herself, she married Lafcadio around December 1890. Another story says that since the Koizumi family was also impoverished, around February 1891 Setsuko started her work as a live-in housekeeper in Lafcadio's house, where he lived by himself as an English teacher. Nishida Sentaro, Lafcadio's colleague and English teacher, volunteered as an interpreter between Setsuko and Lafcadio. Lafcadio Hearn was known as "Herun-san" by local people in Matsu. On 11 August 1891, Lafcadio sent a letter to a friend of his to announce his marriage with Setsuko. Interracial marriage was frowned upon in Japan around the time when Lafcadio and Setsuko married. 
In November 1891, Lafcadio moved to Kumamoto with Setsuko. Setsuko unsuccessfully studied English to talk to Lafcadio. Setsuko, however, correctly understood Lafcadio's broken Japanese, called "Herun-san Kotoba" (Hearn-speak) in their family, and the couple communicated with each other. In 1893, their first son Kazuo was born.
In 1894, the couple moved to Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. He became a full-time writer after "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan", a book which he wrote during his stay in Kumamoto, gained popularity. After that, Setsuko provided much of the material for Lafcadio's major works. In 1896, during their stay in Kobe, his application for naturalisation was granted by the governor of Shimane Prefecture and he became a member of the Koizumi family, officially changing his name to Koizumi Yakumo.
In 1896, the couple moved to Ichigaya, Ushigome-ku, Tokyo. Setsuko not only told Japanese folk legends but also explained what she read in published books to Lafcadio to help him in writing. Lafcadio asked Setsuko to be a "storyteller" who did not just read books aloud but told the stories in her own words, and Setsuko followed his requests. The couple had two sons and one daughter in Tokyo, but after they moved to Nishiokubo in 1902, Lafcadio's health began to deteriorate. On 26 September 1904, Laficadio died.
Later years.
Lafcadio left all assets to his wife in a will. Living in their house with a study in Nishiokubo as they were when Lafcadio was alive, Setsuko raised her children in affluence. In 1914, "Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn", her memoir about Lafcadio, was included in "Koizumi Yakumo", edited by Tanabe Ryuji. She suffered from atherosclerosis in her last years, and died on 18 February 1932 at the age of 64. Her grave is at the Zōshigaya Cemetery.
Appreciation and legacy.
Since Setsuko is a major source of Japanese ghost stories for her husband, she is appreciated as "one of Hearn’s main partners in this highly discursive and collaborative culture of translation." Setsuko "provided him [Lafcadio Hearn] with new folk narratives to ponder, and he turned from his Creole work to focus on Japanese".
References.
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