



Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ernest Schaal, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net









                               SHADOWINGS

                           BY LAFCADIO HEARN
                   LECTURER ON ENGLISH LITERATURE IN
                 THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY, TOKYO, JAPAN

               _AUTHOR OF_ "EXOTICS AND RETROSPECTIVES,"
                   "IN GHOSTLY JAPAN," ETC., ETC.


                              [Decoration]


                                 BOSTON
                       LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
                                  1919




                           _Copyright, 1900_,
                     BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY

                       _All rights reserved_


                                Printers
                 S. J. PARKHILL & CO. BOSTON, U. S. A.




                                Contents


    STORIES FROM STRANGE BOOKS:

          I. THE RECONCILIATION                                5

         II. A LEGEND OF FUGEN-BOSATSU                        15

        III. THE SCREEN-MAIDEN                                23

         IV. THE CORPSE-RIDER                                 33

          V. THE SYMPATHY OF BENTEN                           41

         VI. THE GRATITUDE OF THE SAMEBITO                    57

    JAPANESE STUDIES:

          I. SEMI                                             71

         II. JAPANESE FEMALE NAMES                           105

        III. OLD JAPANESE SONGS                              157

     FANTASIES:

          I. NOCTILUCAE                                       197

         II. A MYSTERY OF CROWDS                             203

        III. GOTHIC HORROR                                   213

         IV. LEVITATION                                      225

          V. NIGHTMARE-TOUCH                                 235

         VI. READINGS FROM A DREAM-BOOK                      249

        VII. IN A PAIR OF EYES                               265




                          Illustrations


                                                   _Facing page_

    PLATE I                                                   72
        1-2, _Young Semi._
        3-4, _Haru-Zemi_, also called _Nawashiro-Zemi_.

    PLATE II                                                  76
        "_Shinne-Shinne_" also called _Yama-Zemi_, and
            _Kuma-Zemi_.

    PLATE III                                                 80
     _Aburazemi._

    PLATE IV                                                  84
        1-2, _Mugikari-Zemi_, also called _Goshiki-Zemi_.
        3, _Higurashi_.
        4, "_Min-Min-Zemi_."

    PLATE V                                                   88
        1, "_Tsuku-tsuku-Boshi_," also called
            "_Kutsu-kutsu-Boshi_," etc. (_Cosmopsaltria
            Opalifera?_)
        2, _Tsurigane-Zemi_.
        3, _The Phantom_.




STORIES FROM STRANGE BOOKS

    Il avait vu bruler d'etranges pierres,
    Jadis, dans les brasiers de la pensee...

                       EMILE VERHAEREN




                         The Reconciliation[1]

                              [Decoration]

    [1] The original story is to be found in the curious volume
        entitled _Konseki-Monogatari_

THERE was a young Samurai of Kyoto who had been reduced to poverty by
the ruin of his lord, and found himself obliged to leave his home, and
to take service with the Governor of a distant province. Before quitting
the capital, this Samurai divorced his wife,--a good and beautiful
woman,--under the belief that he could better obtain promotion by
another alliance. He then married the daughter of a family of some
distinction, and took her with him to the district whither he had been
called.

                   *       *       *       *       *

But it was in the time of the thoughtlessness of youth, and the sharp
experience of want, that the Samurai could not understand the worth of
the affection so lightly cast away. His second marriage did not prove a
happy one; the character of his new wife was hard and selfish; and he
soon found every cause to think with regret of Kyoto days. Then he
discovered that he still loved his first wife--loved her more than he
could ever love the second; and he began to feel how unjust and how
thankless he had been. Gradually his repentance deepened into a remorse
that left him no peace of mind. Memories of the woman he had
wronged--her gentle speech, her smiles, her dainty, pretty ways, her
faultless patience--continually haunted him. Sometimes in dreams he saw
her at her loom, weaving as when she toiled night and day to help him
during the years of their distress: more often he saw her kneeling alone
in the desolate little room where he had left her, veiling her tears
with her poor worn sleeve. Even in the hours of official duty, his
thoughts would wander back to her: then he would ask himself how she was
living, what she was doing. Something in his heart assured him that she
could not accept another husband, and that she never would refuse to
pardon him. And he secretly resolved to seek her out as soon as he could
return to Kyoto,--then to beg her forgiveness, to take her back, to do
everything that a man could do to make atonement. But the years went
by.

At last the Governor's official term expired, and the Samurai was free.
"Now I will go back to my dear one," he vowed to himself. "Ah, what a
cruelty,--what a folly to have divorced her!" He sent his second wife to
her own people (she had given him no children); and hurrying to Kyoto,
he went at once to seek his former companion,--not allowing himself even
the time to change his travelling-garb.

                   *       *       *       *       *

When he reached the street where she used to live, it was late in the
night,--the night of the tenth day of the ninth month;--and the city was
silent as a cemetery. But a bright moon made everything visible; and he
found the house without difficulty. It had a deserted look: tall weeds
were growing on the roof. He knocked at the sliding-doors, and no one
answered. Then, finding that the doors had not been fastened from
within, he pushed them open, and entered. The front room was matless and
empty: a chilly wind was blowing through crevices in the planking; and
the moon shone through a ragged break in the wall of the alcove. Other
rooms presented a like forlorn condition. The house, to all seeming, was
unoccupied. Nevertheless, the Samurai determined to visit one other
apartment at the further end of the dwelling,--a very small room that
had been his wife's favorite resting-place. Approaching the
sliding-screen that closed it, he was startled to perceive a glow
within. He pushed the screen aside, and uttered a cry of joy; for he saw
her there,--sewing by the light of a paper-lamp. Her eyes at the same
instant met his own; and with a happy smile she greeted him,--asking
only:--"When did you come back to Kyoto? How did you find your way here
to me, through all those black rooms?" The years had not changed her.
Still she seemed as fair and young as in his fondest memory of her;--but
sweeter than any memory there came to him the music of her voice, with
its trembling of pleased wonder.

Then joyfully he took his place beside her, and told her all:--how
deeply he repented his selfishness,--how wretched he had been without
her,--how constantly he had regretted her,--how long he had hoped and
planned to make amends;--caressing her the while, and asking her
forgiveness over and over again. She answered him, with loving
gentleness, according to his heart's desire,