A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
O-Yoné is the maid of O-Tsuyu in Hearn’s condensed Peony-Lantern narrative. She dies of grief after her mistress and is buried beside her in a smaller grave. Returning with O-Tsuyu during Bon, she carries the peony-lantern and supplies an elaborate false explanation for their absence: they supposedly left the family villa and now support themselves by private work in a small house. Shinzaburō later discovers that the location she named is their burial place. Hearn’s lantern note describes artificial crêpe-silk flowers attached at the top, rather than merely a painted floral design.
Once sacred texts exclude the pair from Shinzaburō’s house, O-Yoné alternates between urging her mistress to relinquish him and seeking a way inside. She visits his servant Tomozō at night, terrifying him with threats and a frightful face. Acting on his wife’s counsel, he demands one hundred ryō in return for removing a protective paper. O-Yoné also requires removal of the golden amulet worn by Shinzaburō; he steals it and substitutes a copper image while his master bathes. Payment arrives, the paper is removed, and the ghosts enter. No source for their money is explained.
The resulting death and funeral concern Shinzaburō and O-Tsuyu; the adaptation gives no separate release or final fate for O-Yoné. In the closing conversation Hearn’s unnamed collaborator praises her fidelity beyond death, but her intimidation and purchase of a servant’s betrayal are also directly narrated. Their later cemetery visit does not authenticate her grave: the supposed monuments bear other identities. Her role is therefore kept within this explicitly condensed literary account, without merging her into her mistress’s identity or treating a performance-inspired retelling as an eyewitness ghost report.
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
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.