At various times, a place for hens, then cattle and even an outhouse, it now stood bare, without a front wall, door or window.

The new Ireland House glowed softly, its glass façade admitting guests gathered to celebrate the award of the Seamus Heaney Prize

This is one of the most uplifting of all the chapters in the Heike monogatari. The Heike, defeated on land by the Genji forces, have...