Setsuko Koizumi (, 26 February 1868 - 18 February 1932), also known as Setsu Koizumi () was married to the writer Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo). She helped Hearn in writing, and is author of Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn (). Her registered given name in the koseki was "Setsu", but she preferred "Setsuko".長谷川洋二、p.13

Born as a daughter of the Koizumi family, whose members had served the Matsue Domain feudal clan in Izumo, at the age of 22 she married Hearn, who lived in Matsue as an English teacher. Since she liked stories from childhood, she helped her husband to understand Japanese folk tales and supported his writing about Japan.長谷川洋二、pp.42-43

Early life Setsu Koizumi was born on 4 February 1868. Her father was Koizumi Yaemon Minato, of the domain of Matsue feudal clan in Izumo whose (hereditary stipend) was 400 koku, and her mother was Chie.長谷川洋二、pp.11-13 Soon after she was born, she was adopted by the Inagaki family.

She liked stories from childhood, and often listened to fairy tales, folk tales, and local legends. After the Meiji Restoration, shizoku families lost stipends and were impoverished, and the Inagaki family was no exception: Setsuko graduated from primary school with excellent academic records and hoped to enter further education, but she had to work as a weaver at the age of 11.長谷川洋二、pp.85-86

When Setsuko was 18, the Inagaki family adopted a son of a shizoku family Maeda Tameji as their mukoyōshi (adopted son-in-law) and Setsuko's husband, but he left the family within a year since he could not bear the poverty.長谷川洋二、pp.99-103 In 1890, Setsuko officially got divorced and returned to the Koizumi family.長谷川洋二、p.104

Marriage to Lafcadio Hearn The date of the marriage of Setsuko and Lafcadio Hearn is uncertain. According to Setsuko herself, she married Hearn around December 1890.長谷川洋二、p.126 Another story says that since the Koizumi family was also impoverished, around February 1891 Setsuko started her work as a live-in housekeeper in Hearn's house, where he lived by himself as an English teacher.高橋彰典、p.88 Nishida Sentaro, Hearn's colleague and English teacher, volunteered as an interpreter between Setsuko and Hearn,高瀬彰典、p.91 who was known as "Herun-san" by local people in Matsue. On 11 August 1891, Hearn sent a letter to a friend to announce his marriage with Setsuko.長谷川洋二、pp.146-150 Interracial marriage was frowned upon in Japan at the time when Hearn and Setsuko married.

In November 1891, Hearn moved to Kumamoto with Setsuko. Setsuko unsuccessfully studied English to talk to Hearn.長谷川洋二、p.161 Setsuko, however, correctly understood Hearn's broken Japanese, called "Herun-san Kotoba" (Hearn-speak) in their family, and the couple communicated with each other.長谷川洋二、pp.162-163 In 1893, their first son Kazuo was born.

In 1894, the couple moved to Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. He became a full-time writer after Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, a book which he wrote during his stay in Kumamoto, gained popularity.長谷川洋二 、p.168 After that, Setsuko provided much of the material for Hearn's major works.長谷川洋二、p.169 In 1896, during their stay in Kobe, his application for naturalisation was granted by the governor of Shimane Prefecture and he became a member of the Koizumi family, officially changing his name to Koizumi Yakumo.長谷川洋二、pp.183-184

In 1896, the couple moved to Ichigaya, Ushigome-ku, Tokyo. Setsuko not only told Japanese folk legends but also explained what she read in published books to Hearn to help him in writing.長谷川洋二、pp.211-214 Hearn asked Setsuko to be a "storyteller" who did not just read books aloud but told the stories in her own words, and Setsuko followed his requests.高橋彰典、p.96 The couple had two sons and one daughter in Tokyo, but after they moved to Nishiokubo in 1902, Hearn's health began to deteriorate,高橋彰典、p.98 and he died on 26 September 1904.

Later years Lafcadio Hearn left all his assets to his wife in his will.長谷川洋二、pp.181-182 Living in their house with a study in Nishiokubo as they were when Hearn was alive, Setsuko raised her children in affluence.高橋彰典、pp.99-100 In 1914, Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn, her memoir about Hearn, was included in Koizumi Yakumo, edited by Tanabe Ryuji.長谷川洋二、pp.274-275 She suffered from atherosclerosis in her last years, and died on 18 February 1932 at the age of 64.高橋彰典、p.100 Her grave is at the Zōshigaya Cemetery.

Appreciation and legacy Since Setsuko was a major source of Japanese ghost stories for her husband, she is appreciated as "one of Hearn’s main partners in this highly discursive and collaborative culture of translation." Setsuko "provided him with new folk narratives to ponder, and he turned from his Creole work to focus on Japanese".

See also The Ghost Writer's Wife (2025 television series). The protagonist Matsuno Toki is modeled after Koizumi.

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