Hearn lands in Yokohama, rides by jinricksha to Kamakura and Enoshima, then settles in Matsue to explore Izumo's shrines, festivals and village superstitions. He visits the Great Shrine of Kitzuki, the cave of the children's ghosts, and the temple at Hinomisaki, finding the living Shinto in the national heart rather than in books.
Books mentioned in Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: First Series (6)
Kojiki by O no Yasumaro: “And the tale of his descent into that strange nether world, and of what there befell him, is it not written in the Kojiki?”
Nihongi by Prince Toneri: “Doubtless the difficulty of explaining Shinto has been due simply to the fact that the sinologists have sought for the source of it in books: in the Kojiki and the Nihongi, which are its histories; in the Norito, which are its prayers; in the commentaries of Motowori and Hirata, who were its greatest scholars.”
Lotus Sutra: “In the Japanese tongue, Ho-ke-kyo; in Sanscrit, Saddharma Pundarika: 'The Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law,' the divine book of the Nichiren sect.”
Jizo-kyo-Kosui by Hitsumu: “'Then is there no way, Akira, by which Bimbogami may be driven away?' 'It is written,' replies Akira, 'in the book called Jizo-Kyo-Kosui that the aged Enjobo, a priest dwelling in the province of Owari, was able to get rid of Bimbogami by means of a charm.”
Tales of Old Japan by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford: “In the Introduction to his charming Tales of Old Japan, Mr. Mitford wrote in 1871: 'The books which have been written of late years about Japan have either been compiled from official records, or have contained the sketchy impressions of passing travellers. Of the inner life of the Japanese the world at large knows but little:”
Buddhist Catechism by Henry Steel Olcott: “And he takes from an alcove a little book, and gives it to me to examine. It is an English copy of Olcott's Buddhist Catechism.”