The Dream of a Summer Day

"The Dream of a Summer Day" is an essay by Lafcadio Hearn that reminisced on his childhood, and which also incorporated a retelling of the Japanese folktale of Urashima Tarō. It was the first piece in the collection Out of the East (1895).

Essay[]

"The Dream of a Summer Day" was first printed in the 28 July 1894 issue of The Japan Weekly Mail, and republished in the collection Out of the East (1895).^[1][2]

Urashima and Irish legend[]

Commentators have noted a parallel between the underlying Japanese fairy tale of Urashima Tarō and the Irish legend around Oisín and the fairy princess of the sea,^[a][4] and Hearn might have recalled this legend in writing the piece, even though he does not explicitly state this.^[5]

Hearn's biographer Paul Murray has identified it as an "enchanted memory" of his beloved aunt, Catherine Frances Elwood, the elder sister of his Irish father,^[6] even though other commentators have assumed it was about his parting with his Greek mother, née Rosa Antonia Cassimati.^[b][9][10]

Hearn and the Manyo poem of Urashima[]

Although most commentators stress Hearn's identification with the Urashima figure, Hearn may have also empathized with the ancient poet of the Man'yōshū who recounted the even older legend of Urashima.^[11] For Hearn's essay begins in the same way: he starts by describing the scenery of Misumi, Kumamoto where he was then staying, and drifts into the tale of Urashima; likewise, the ancient poet opens by describing the scenery of Suminoe (Suminoe-ku, Osaka), then launches into his musings about the Urashima legend.^[12][13] Hearn's Misumi was not anywhere near the spot of the legend, however, he happened to be staying at an inn named "Urashima-ya".^[14] The identity of the ancient poet was unknown to Hearn, but scholars have determined the author of this poem have been Takahashi no Mushimaro.^[15]

Explanatory notes[]

References[]

Citations

Bibliography

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