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Overview
Hearn’s “A Passional Karma” retells the ghostly portion of Enchō’s Peony-Lantern romance. O-Tsuyu, daughter of Iijima Heizayémon, falls in love with Hagiwara Shinzaburō during a visit arranged by the family physician. The physician avoids arranging another meeting because he fears her father’s reaction; believing herself abandoned, she dies. Her servant O-Yoné dies soon afterwards. During the Bon festival the two return together, the servant carrying a lantern decorated with artificial peony flowers. They persuade Shinzaburō that reports of their deaths were a deception, and the visits become nightly.
To the lover O-Tsuyu remains beautiful. His servant Tomozō, watching secretly, instead sees a long-dead face, fingers of naked bone and a body fading below the waist into shadow. The fortune-teller Yusai warns Shinzaburō; finding the women’s graves confirms their deaths within the story. The priest Ryōseki attributes the danger to a bond from former lives and says that affection, not hatred, motivates her return. A golden image of Kai-On-Nyōrai, written protective texts over openings and recitation of a sutra are prescribed. O-Tsuyu weeps outside the protected house and insists that O-Yoné obtain another meeting.
After Tomozō accepts payment, removes a protective text and replaces the golden image with a copper one, both ghosts enter through a small window like vapour. The next day Shinzaburō is found dead beside a woman’s skeleton, its arms and hands clinging around his neck. Ryōseki directs that he be buried beside O-Tsuyu. Hearn then describes visiting the supposedly corresponding graves himself: rubbing their inscriptions reveals an innkeeper and a Buddhist nun, undermining that local identification. The epilogue must not be omitted in presenting the tale as a located literary witness. The text supplies no blood-drinking, and the priest’s karmic interpretation remains part of the narrative rather than an independently established cause.
Origins & earliest records
Japanese literary ghost narrative, condensed into English by Hearn with an unnamed collaborator
Records & interpretation
Complete A Passional Karma, sectionsI–XI, all17notes, introduction and graveyard epilogue read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
In Ghostly Japan — A Passional Karma
Introductory adaptation statement; sectionsI–XI; notes1–17; complete closing cemetery visit. Gutenberg8128 chapter6, no original print pagination claimed.1899Boston publication verified by National Diet Library record000006423509.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Primary records and illustrations
In Ghostly Japan
Lafcadio Hearn; Boston:Little, Brown and Co.,1899 (NDL edition record). A Passional Karma, introductory statement, sectionsI–XI, notes1–17 and final graveyard visit; HTMLchap06
Complete cache hearn-ghostly-passional-karma.txt,44547characters. All three overlapping reading blocks through final dialogue inspected. Explicitly condensed Encho ghost portion, not complete novel. O-Tsuyu desire versus priest karma explanation; O-Yone counterfeit-survival story/bribe/amulet-removal; copper substitute and removed paper distinct protections; final corpse and burial; actual visited inscriptions belong to innkeeper and nun, not claimed lovers.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical English narrative transcriptionHearn, A Passional Karma, complete adaptation and epilogueResearch access: 2026-10-05
- National library edition and author recordNational Diet Library, In ghostly Japan (1899), bibliographic recordResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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