Veranda of the Old House of Lafcadio Hearn in Matsue

Lafcadio Hearn — the Greek-Irish writer who came to Japan in 1890, settled in Matsue, married a Japanese woman, and became the first significant Western interpreter of Japanese culture — lived in a traditional merchant house that is now a museum in Hiratsuka's birthplace. The 1960 woodblock renders the veranda of Hearn's Matsue house with intimate precision. For Hiratsuka, the subject connects personal geography with literary history.