Lafcadio Hearn's Japan runs from Matsue Castle and Izumo Taisha to Kumamoto, Yaizu and Akama Shrine in Shimonoseki, home of the Kwaidan ghost tale of Hōïchi the Earless.
The route follows his years as a teacher and writer: the samurai house in Matsue, a railway station scene from Kokoro, a fishing town he wrote about, and the shrine that keeps Hōïchi's statue. Hearn does not name the Kumamoto station, so that pin is approximate.
Tomoe Gozen, the woman warrior of The Tale of the Heike, rode with Kiso Yoshinaka from the Kiso Valley through Kurikara Pass and the Uji River to the battle of Awazu, near Gichū-ji temple in Ōtsu.
The route follows her legend from Shinano to Yoshinaka's last stand in 1184, then to the places that claim her afterlife as a nun. Her later life is uncertain, so the last stops rest on temple and local tradition.
Between 1180 and 1185 Japan's two great warrior clans, Taira and Minamoto, fought over the realm, and the war ended with a child emperor, a fleet and the tide at Dan-no-ura. It was the war that led to the first shogun.
This route visits seven battlefield sites in date order, from the bridge at Uji to the Kanmon Straits. Documented events are kept apart from the Heike Monogatari's legends, which the text attributes to the tale. Most battle areas are approximate.
