It was on the 19th of March, 1902, that the Koizumi family removed from
21, Tomihasa-chio, Ichigaya, Ushigome, to 266, Nishi Okubo.

Hearn had purchased the house out of his savings and settled it on his
wife according to English law, as no woman can hold property in Japan.
It is there that Mrs. Hearn now lives, sub-letting half of it to Captain
Fujisaki--one of Hearn's Matsue students, who has remained an intimate
friend of his widow and children. Nishi Okubo is known as the Gardeners'
Quarter, where the celebrated Tokyo azaleas are grown, and where a show
of azaleas is held once a year.

After he took possession, Hearn added on the library, or Buddha-room, as
it is now called, and a guest-room, which was assigned to Mrs. Koizumi
for her occupation.

Had Hearn at this time managed his affairs with the least businesslike
acumen, he might have enjoyed the comfortable competency which his widow
now receives from the royalties and sales of his books, which have most
of them been translated into German, Swedish and French, and achieved a
considerable circulation in England.

There is little doubt he was lamentably wanting in the most rudimentary
knowledge of practical business affairs, and was entirely to blame for
the difficulties in which he so repeatedly found himself. "I have given
up thinking about the business side of literature, and am quite content
to obtain the privilege of having my books produced according to my
notions of things," he writes to Mitchell McDonald.

On the day of his arrival in the new house, while,--assisted by his
wife,--he was arranging his books in the shelves in the library, he
suddenly heard an _uguisu_ (nightingale) singing in the bamboo-grove
outside. He stopped to listen, then "How delightful!" he said to his
wife, "Oh! how I hope I will live here for years until I have made
enough for you and the children."

During the last two years of his life he suffered a great deal from his
eyes; each month more powerful glasses had to be used; and he was
obliged to stand writing at a high desk, his face almost touching the
paper. Yet what a beautiful handwriting it is! almost as plain as
copperplate. Composition was easy for him, but the mechanical labour of
setting down his thoughts became very irksome. Many were the kind offers
of help that he received; Mr. Mason, for instance, proposed to do any
necessary copying he wanted, but he was too irritable to do work in
conjunction with any one,