On the Inner Life and Other Essays

What is the life within? For Kitamura Tōkoku, the inner life of the heart was the source of all true literature and all true religion, and no measure of usefulness could reach it.

This collection gathers ten works of 1892 and 1893: "On the Inner Life," Tōkoku's most famous essay; "What Is Meant by 'Bearing upon Human Life'?", his reply to Yamaji Aizan that opened one of the great literary debates of Meiji Japan, with its sequel "The Meaning of 'Life'"; essays on the secret palace of the heart and on the idea of the other world in Eastern and Western poetry; two short Christian meditations; and three quieter pieces of travel and solitude: a return to the hill hamlet where he hid in his political youth, the notebook of a mountain hermitage, and twelve sketches from a seaside fishing village.

This collection contains Three Days in a Realm of Illusion; The Secret Palace Within Each Person's Palace of the Heart; The Idea of the Other World; Jottings from a Mountain Hermitage; What Is Meant by "Bearing upon Human Life"?; Morality in Practice; On the Inner Life; The Meaning of "Life"; The Service of the Lord; and Occasional Jottings from a Borrowed Lodging. Each is translated complete and unabridged from Japanese, with a translator's note, brief endnotes and source information.