JAPAN: An Attempt At Interpretation. by HEARN, Lafcadio

New York 1904, Macmillan. Brown decorated cloth, spine and cover titles gold & black stamped, 549p., color frontis,13 x 20 cm., index, bibliography, contents very bright & clean, top edge gilt. * * FIRST EDITION Second Printing * * . *** **** *** . . HEARN'S MOST ICONIC & CLASSIC STUDY OF JAPANESE CHARACTER . . . RELIGION, BELIEF SYSTEM, SHINTO PHILOSOPHY, DISCIPLINE, . . . UNIQUE SAMURAI & MILITARY SPRIT: BUSHIDO . . . WITH OTHER INSIGHTS OF JAPANESE UNIQUENESS . . . SELDOM UNDERSTOOD OR EXPLAINED IN INFINITE DETAIL . . . HEARN'S BEST BOOK ABOUT THE TRUE-NATURE OF . . . INNATE JAPANESE ATTITUDES . * This is Hearn's most important work on Japan. It covers the psychological, ethically unique cultural & richness of true Japanese culture & inherited factors of life. . Hearn, alone among all other writers on Japan of the early 20th century has stood out as a true and keen interpreter of this countries and its social mores, norms and philosophical motives, of life and culture. . Herein Hearn writes with authority on the vast and intricate social organization as well as her rich tradition of literature. No detail, no matter how small has been over looked in his delicate web of Japanese understanding. . This work covers the Japanese unique strangeness, charm, ancient cults, religion, family, worship, purification and religious beliefs found in Buddhism and Shinto a kind of natural object with spirits respected and worshiped. . The highly social structure & organization, rise of military power, loyalty, danger of Jesuits & "Gaijin" [foreigners] to Japan's sovereignty. . Major General Bonner Fellers found this book in the early 1920's and was stunned to understand the true nature of the Japanese, vis-a-vis their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He later struck up a friendly relationship with Hearn's wife and first son, Kazuo in the 1930's. . Later he worked in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor of the CIA. He was attached as the intelligence officer in General Douglas MacArthur's occupation staff in Japan immediately at the end of the war, being MacArthur's key Japan advisor. . Fellers rightly predicted the Kamikaze acts against American ships near the end of the war. For additional & copious details, please see our entry for the book his daughter & Kazuo wrote together: RE-ECHO our book number 842828 posted to our website. . With color frontispiece . *** CONTENTS: . DIFFICULTIES . STRANGENESS AND CHARM . THE ANCIENT CULT . THE RELIGION OF THE HOME . THE JAPANESE FAMILY . THE COMMUNAL CULT . DEVELOPMENTS OF SHINTO . WORSHIP AD PURIFICATION . THE RULE OF THE DEAD . THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM . THE HIGHER BUDDHISM ,. THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION . THE RISE OF THE MILITARY POWER ,. THE RELIGION OF LOYALTY . THE JESUIT PERIL . FEUDAL INTEGRATION . THE SHINTO REVIVAL . SURVIVALS . MODERN RESTRAINTS . OFFICIAL EDUCATION . INDUSTRIAL DANGER . REFLECTIONS. . Bibliographical Note: . Appendix: Herbert Spencer's advice to Japan. . *** BINDING & EDITIONS The book was bound in the publisher's olive green cloth with gold and black cover & spine titles, with a chrysanthemum Mon [monogram] on the cover & spine in gold. The top edge gilt, fore & lower edge trimmed. With color frontispiece of a Shinto shrine novice girl in prayer. . Below Hearn's name it states: "Honorary Member of the Japan Society, London; Formerly Lecturer in the Imperial University of Tokyo [1890-1903], and Fourteen Years a Resident of Japan." . A second quote below the author's name reads: "Perhaps all very marked national characters can be traced back to a time of rigid and pervading discipline. By Walter Bagehot." . Per Perkins p.52, the beginning of when this title contains the 'Appendix' with "Herbert Spencer's Advice to Japan" essay appears for the first time in the 1904 December third edition and continued from then onwards in other editions. . The FIRST AMERICAN EDITION was published in New York, 1904 date on the title page, issued in light brown cloth otherwise per above. Later editions were issued in the olive green colored covers, all titles in the same colors as well as the Mon [family crest]. . *** Color photos are posted to our website. . *** CONDITION: . Generic: Per above. Individual copies will vary in condition and description, please carefully read each copy description, condition and all notes prior to ordering. . *** ADDITIONAL NOTES ON SPECIFIC COPIES . Copy 3 is the second printing of the First Edition, with additional dates on the verso of the title page, see Perkins p.52. The verso of the title page shows: "Published September, 1904, reprinted November, twice, 1904= second edition. With 1904 on title page. . Copy 4 is the third printing of the First Edition. similar to above, with last date showing December 1904. . Copy 6, in gray pictorial cloth has Hokusai "GREAT WAVE" end papers and the 16 b.w. plates are after Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. We have more than one copy, these may have a bit of spine head & tail wear, bit of corner & edge wear. The contents remains exceptionally clean with no issues. See photos of this binding on our website. Ask questions prior to ordering. . Copy 7 has some dark stain to left and right side of the front end paper & first fly, followed by faint stain to the top one inch from the half-title to about page 25, no impact on the text. Else contents very bright, clean & solid. Bound in the later edition variant of buff cloth, with blue titles & brown decorations. A little bit of wear to the spine top edge. Sold "as is," not returnable, by ordering you agree to the condition of this item. . *** REFERENCE: . Perkins pp.51,52 . * .