• Foreword
• Outline
• Events in Ireland
• Hearn’s Time in Ireland
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• Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum

Foreword

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) spent his most impressionable childhood years, those between the ages of 2 and 13, in Ireland. He died in Japan at the age of 54 as Koizumi Yakumo.

Hearn had many painful memories of his Irish years. During that time, his father left his beloved mother, he rebelled against his strict Catholic upbringing, he developed a fear of ghosts and Gothic imagery, and he suffered the effects of his great-aunt’s bankruptcy. When he moved to the USA, he ceased to use his first name Patrick.

His experiences and memories of that time remained with him throughout his life. However, the time he spent in an Irish cultural environment cultivated a powerful imagination, which led to the intuitive understanding he had of Japanese folk culture in his later life. In piecing together the few remaining records of his childhood years, The Beginning of Memory seeks to explore the Irish elements flowing through Hearn.

Exhibition Outline
—Exploring the Beginning of Memory

This exhibition uses panels and photographs to depict each period of Hearn’s childhood. It focuses on how his later life was affected by 1) the family and social environment of his early years 2) his encounters with Celtic oral tradition, and 3) the traumas he experienced as a boy. On display are works which describe his experiences in Ireland, letters to his younger brother, first editions of his works which allude to Celtic culture, handwritten manuscripts, and biographical information. The exhibition seeks to explore the resonance between Japanese folk culture, of which Hearn was very fond, and the oral tradition of Ireland.

1) The family and social environment

The Hearn family was Protestant Anglo-Irish, and had served the British Army and the Irish church for generations. The family must have regarded the mother and young child from a foreign country and culture as an odd presence in their lives. The exhibition examines the influence the family and social environment had on Hearn over a period of 14 years, including his time in England, and aims to recapture that period of his life. The people around Hearn at that time included Sarah Brenane, his great-aunt and guardian who converted to Catholicism, his father’s second wife, his younger brother James, who suddenly appeared in his life, and Henry Molynuex, the distant relative whose business failure led to Sarah’s bankruptcy. References used include the following: Hearn’s memories, and letters to his younger brother in The Atlantic Monthly “Lafcadio Hearn’s Brother” by Henry Kneeland (1923), photographs of Ireland during the period Hearn lived there (National Library of Ireland collection), and the following biographies: The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn by Elizabeth Bisland (1906), Lafcadio Hearn by Nina Kennard (1911), Young Hearn by O.W. Frost (1958), and A Fantastic Journey by Paul Murray (1993).

2) Encounters with Celtic oral tradition

In Ireland, the animistic Celtic folk religion of the Druids is fused with Christianity. Originally, the Celts did not have a written language, so traditions were passed down orally. Hearn encountered the Celtic oral tradition through his nurse, Catherine Costello, who was employed by Sarah Brenane. The stories he heard fuelled his imagination, and the fascination and awe he developed for the spirit world run through his works. His retelling of Urashima in “The Dream of a Summer Day” (Out of the East, 1895), and stories of reincarnation such as “The Rebirth of Katsugoro” (Gleanings in Buddha-Fields, 1897), and “Riki-Baka” (Kwaidan, 1904) show similarities with Celtic myths, folklore and fairytales.

3) Traumatic experiences

Lafcadio found Ireland’s long dark winters and the gloomy atmosphere indoors unbearably frightening. In the house, he often saw what he thought were terrifying ghosts and spirits, and believed himself to be haunted by them. This terror remained deep within his soul, and can be seen in abundance in his later works. He recalls the traumatic experiences of his childhood in “Gothic Horror” and “Nightmare-Touch” (Shadowings, 1900). In “Cousin Jane” (handwritten manuscript, Matsue Municipal Library collection), he tells of his encounter with Jane, a guest at his great-aunt’s house, who he saw one day as a faceless ghost. This experience was used in his retelling of “Mujina”, which he wrote in Japan. The terrifying childhood memories and his knowledge of Celtic folklore were sublimated in the Japanese stories he retold.

A letter sent from Hearn to his younger brother James contains negative sentiments about Ireland. However, “Hi-Mawari” (Kwaidan, 1904), which he wrote in his final years, shows glimpses of a heartrending nostalgia for his childhood years in Ireland, as he recalls the faint memory of playing with his cousin Robert.

Also, in a letter sent to the famous Irish poet W. B. Yeats, he made the following remarks about his earlier life:

“I had a Connaught nurse who told me fairy tales and ghost stories. So I ought to love Irish things, and do.”
(Letter to W. B. Yeats, 24 September, 1901)

Hearn never spoke to his family about Ireland, and only expressed his affection for the country to Yeats. Given his experiences, one can imagine the conflicted feelings he had for his childhood home. However, fragments of memories of Ireland come to the fore in his later works, and it can be said that the Japan Hearn portrayed was a world seen through a vivid Irish imagination.

Events in Ireland

The Lafcadio Hearn Gardens will open in June, 2015, in the small town of Tramore, County Waterford, in south-east Ireland. The idea for the gardens was proposed by a resident of the town, and local volunteers are preparing for the opening. Matsue City will send a relief of Lafcadio Hearn (created by Minoru Kurasawa) to the gardens. In October, a delegation from Japan will participate in the unveiling ceremony.

Also, in October, The Little Museum of Dublin will hold an exhibition called The Open Mind of Patrick Lafcadio Hearn — Coming Home. Artefacts from the collection of the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum in Japan will be on display. This exhibition, The Beginning of Memory, is held to coincide with the exhibition in Dublin. Reading performances of Maraudo — Visitors from the World Beyond by Shiro Sano and Kyoji Yamamoto, who are both from Matsue, will be held in three locations in Ireland. Sano and Yamamoto have been performing Hearn’s works for ten years, and their performances play an important role in introducing the literature of Hearn to the world.

It is deeply significant that the Irish people are once again recognizing the importance of Hearn, and are starting to look at him anew. We are delighted to welcome Hearn home, and hope that this exhibition leads to the development of ties between Matsue and Tramore, and also Lefkada and New Orleans.

Lafcadio Hearn’s Time in Ireland

On 1 August, 1852, Patrick Lafcadio Hearn was taken by his mother, Rosa, from his birthplace of Lefkada, Greece, to his father Charles’ family home in Dublin, Ireland. He was only two years old at the time. There is little information about the time Hearn and his mother spent together in Ireland. However, life in a foreign country with a different religion, climate and language was difficult for them both. Struggling to adjust to her new life, Rosa became mentally ill, and her marriage to Charles failed. In the summer of 1854, Rosa returned to Greece alone, leaving Lafcadio in Ireland. The mother and child were never to meet again. Lafcadio was left in the care of Sarah Brenane, his great-aunt. She employed a nanny from Connaught, a region steeped in Celtic culture, to take care of Lafcadio, and they lived at 73 Upper Leeson Street in Dublin.

At that time, Sarah was wealthy, and Lafcadio spent his boyhood summers in a villa in Tramore, County Waterford in the south. He also spent time in Cong, County Mayo, where his aunt Catherine Elwood lived. During this time, he heard many Celtic fairytales and ghost stories, and learnt to swim. It was a happy period in his life.

However, in the summer of 1857, his father Charles married Alicia Goslin Crawford, to whom he had previously been attached. His father broke the news to Lafcadio on a walk along the coast in Tramore. Charles was posted to India and moved there with his new family. However, in November, 1866, he died from malaria on the return journey.

Lafcadio, who had now lost both parents, was raised by his great-aunt. She was a pious Catholic, and at the age of thirteen, Lafcadio was sent to St Cuthbert’s College, a Catholic seminary near Durham in England. There, he rebelled against the strict religious education. At the age of sixteen, he lost the sight in his left eye in a playground accident. His difficulties were compounded when the business of Henry Molyneux, a distant relative, failed. His great-aunt, who had invested in this venture, became bankrupt, and Hearn was forced to leave St Cuthbert’s College.