Lafcadio Hearn’s Japan: from Enchantment to Intercultural Understanding

Free registration for the event here

Event Introduction

Lafcadio Hearn enjoys great acclaim as a literary genius who brought the folklore of Japan to Westerners. Inspired by the author's book Kwaidan (1904), a collection of stories of the supernatural and translations of haiku poetry, a travelling exhibition entitled Kwaidan - Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn, featuring the fine art print works by 40 Irish and Japanese artists has been exhibited in Japan and Ireland during 2023 and 2024, to venues including the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museums in Matsue and Yaizu, as well as to Nagute and Kyoto. In Ireland it is exhibited in the Ballinglen Museum of Art, the Hyde Gallery in Sligo, the Coastguard Cultural Centre in Tramore, Co. Waterford, and the Hunt Museum in Limerick. From March until the end of August of 2025 it can be seen at Farmleigh Gallery in Dublin, and will also feature in the Irish Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo from April to October before taking up a permanent residence at Ireland House, the new Irish Embassy complex that is currently being constructed in Tokyo. 

In tandem with the exhibition's opening at Farmleigh Gallery, Trinity College Dublin’s Centre for Asian Studies is organising a one-day academic workshop honouring the life and works of Hearn, recognising him as a person dedicated to understanding across cultures, ambitious in his rejection of bigotry, and sensitive to Japanese life and ethics despite their contrast to the West. Speakers include prominent scholars, diplomats and politicians from Ireland, Japan, Britain and USA. A music performance titled Celebrating Lafcadio Hearn - Bridging Japan and Ireland will be staged at lunch time at St. Ann's Church on Dublin's Dawson Street, a venue connected to Lafcadio Hearn's family history. 

Hearn moved to Ireland, his father’s homeland, at the age of two. He experienced the tradition of oral storytelling throughout his childhood In Dublin, Tramore and Cong. He honed his skills as a writer while working as a journalist in the USA, and later produced many works in Japan. Of these, Kwaidan is considered to be a masterpiece and the culmination of Hearn’s literary output. This academic event brings scholars, diplomats, politicians and the public together to celebrate Hearn’s life and creativity, and by implication to celebrate humanity and a cosmopolitan value.

Programme

(Each section features a 30-minute talk followed by a 20-minute discussion with the audience. Dr. James Hadley will facilitate the discussion after each talk.)

• 9:00 - 9:30 Arrival of audience and welcome speech by Professor Nathan Hill
• 9:30 - 9:50 Inaugural Speech by His Excellency Mr. SHIMADA Junji
• 10:00 - 10:50: Lafcadio Hearn and the Invention of the Haiku Professor Stefano Evangelista
• 10:50 - 11:10 Coffee Break
• 11:10 - 12:00: Lafcadio Hearn and the World of Animism: Reviving Hearn's “Kwaidan” in the Modern Era Professor Bon Koizumi and Ms. Shoko Koizumi
• 12:00 - 14:00 Lunch Break (13:00 - 13:45 Music Performance by Thomas Charles Marshall and Triona Marshall at St. Ann’s Church). More information about this performance and performers can be found here.
• 14:00 - 14:50: Bridging Cultures : The Human Connections Shaping Ireland-Japan Relations Professor John Neary
• 15:00 - 15:50: Sensing Through Description in Lafcadio Hearn’s ‘My First Day in the Orient’ (1894) Dr. Fraser Riddell
• 16:00 - 16:15 Coffee Break
• 16:15 - 17:05: Kwaidan’ Illustrated: The unpublished watercolors of Kazuo Koizumi. Dr. Kathryn Webb-Destefano
• 17:10 - 18:00: Kwaidan’: Lafcadio Hearn’s Haunting Achievement Mr. Paul Murray
• 18:00 - 19:00 Closing Remarks given by Professor Nathan Hill followed by Light Refreshments