Konjaku Monogatarishū
Since "Wa" 和 commonly abbreviates "Yamato" 大和 "Japan; Japanese", 和魂 (also read "Wakon") is a contraction of "Yamato-damashii". The "Konjaku Monogatarishū" (circa 1120) first uses it describing a burglar who murdered a nattering scholar of Chinese classical law. "Although Kiyohara no Yoshizumi (清原善澄) had admirable learning, he is said to have died in this childish way because he did not have the slightest knowledge of the Japanese spirit" (tr. Carr 1994:283).