Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life

Produced by Liz Warren
THE papers composing this volume treat of the inner rather than of the outer life of Japan,—for which reason they have been grouped under the title Kokoro (heart). Written with the above character, this word signifies also mind, in the emotional sense; spirit; courage; resolve; sentiment; affection; and inner meaning,—just as we say in English, the heart of things.
KOBE September 15, 1895.
I. AT A RAILWAY STATION II. THE GENIUS Of JAPANESE CIVILIZATION III. A STREET SINGER IV. FROM A TRAVELING DIARY V. THE NUN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMIDA VI. AFTER THE WAR VII. HARU VIII. A GLIMPSE OF TENDENCIES IX. BY FORCE OF KARMA X. A CONSERVATIVE XI. IN THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS XII. THE IDEA OF PRE-EXISTENCE XIII. IN CHOLERA-TIME XIV. SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT ANCESTOR-WORSHIP XV. KIMIKO APPENDIX. THREE POPULAR BALLADS
Seventh day of the sixth Month;— twenty-sixth of Meiji.
Yesterday a telegram from Fukuoka announced that a desperate criminal captured there would be brought for trial to Kumamoto to-day, on the train due at noon. A Kumamoto policeman had gone to Fukuoka to take the prisoner in charge.
Four years ago a strong thief entered some house by night in the Street of the Wrestlers, terrified and bound the inmates, and carried away a number of valuable things. Tracked skillfully by the police, he was captured within twenty-four hours,—even before he could dispose of his plunder. But as he was being taken to the police station he burst his bonds, snatched the sword of his captor, killed him, and escaped. Nothing more was heard of him until last week.
Then a Kumamoto detective, happening to visit the Fukuoka prison, saw among the toilers a face that had been four years photographed upon his brain. Who is that man? he asked the guard. A thief, was the reply,— registered here as Kusabe. The detective walked up to the prisoner and said:—
Kusabe is not your name. Nomura Teichi, you are needed in Kumamoto for murder. The felon confessed all.