“They were the singers of life and joy, not of death and tears.”

Describing an ancient poetic spirit that affirmed vitality even in the presence of death · Essay, The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, 'The Earliest Japanese Poetry'

• Death
• Joy
• Poetry

“The noisy time has slipped away even gracefully at Kyoto.”

Evoking Kyoto as a place where modernity seems softened by continuity and tradition · Essay, Through the Torii, 'Kyoto'

• Memory
• Time

“His Greek temperament and French culture became frost-bitten as a flower in the North.”

A vivid characterisation of the cultural tensions Noguchi perceived in Lafcadio Hearn · Essay, Lafcadio Hearn in Japan

• Art
• Solitude