Lafcadio Hearn, the author of this selection, took a four days' journey in a jinrikisha to the remote country district which he describes. He is almost the only foreigner who has ever entered the village.
Bon-odori:—The dance in honor of the dead.
Hiroshige:—A Japanese landscape painter of an early date.
kuruma:—A jinrikisha; a two-wheeled cart drawn by a man.
hibachi:—(hi bä' chi) A brazier.
Bonku:—The Festival of the Dead.
The memory of tropical dances:—Lafcadio Hearn had previously spent some years in the West Indies.
Akira:—The name of the guide who has drawn the kuruma in which the foreigner has come to the village. (See page 18 of Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.)
yukata:—Pronounced yu kä' ta.
geta:—Pronounced gēē' ta, not jēē' ta; high noisy wooden clogs. (See page 10 of Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.)