Japanese Supernatural Tales

Flesh-eating oni demons, kappa water sprites, shapeshifting kitsune foxes, vengeful yurei ghosts - monsters and magical creatures haunt Japanese history and literature. They appear as moralistic figures in eighth-century folktales, comic relief in Edo-era kabuki plays, ghostly encounters in the storytelling game hyaku-monogatari and sinister predators in contemporary detective novels. This volume brings together an incomparable range - more than one thousand years' worth, from premodern to modern - of the most horrifying and enduring supernatural stories that have exploded in popularity in anime, video games and horror movies.

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Introduction by Michael Dylan Foster Suggestions for Further Reading Acknowledgments A Note About Japanese Names and Words JAPANESE SUPERNATURAL TALES I. THE AGE OF THE GODS Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) II. COURT AND COUNTRYSIDE The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu Tales of Times Now Past Two Tales of Tengu III. EDO PERIOD AND THE KAIDAN BOOM Selections from Hand Puppets (Otogibōko) by Asai Ryōi Selections from One Hundred Tales from the Various Provinces(Shokoku hyaku-monogatari) “A Ghost Asks Jūsaku a Favor” from Taihei hyaku-monogatari “The Smallpox Demon” from Nanreishi by Tada Yoshitoshi “Will-o’- the- Wisps” from Isetsu-machimachi by Wada Ukō “Death and the Mermaid” from Exemplary Tales of the Way of the Warrior by Ihara Saikaku Two Spider Tales “Shuten Dōji” “The House Amid the Thickets” from Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari) by Ueda Akinari Selections from Mimi-bukuro by Negishi Yasumori Selections from Toen shōsetsu by Kyokutei Bakin IV. THE MEIJI TRANSITION News of the Times Two Tales by Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) “Sea Dæmons” by Izumi Kyōka V. STORIES OF A MODERN NATION A Selection of Legends Two Stories by Okamoto Kidō “The Man Traveling with the Brocade Portrait” by Edogawa Ranpo “The Sea Monk” by Tanaka Kōtarō “Happiness” by Nakajima Atsushi “The Mermaid and the Samurai” by Dazai Osamu “Love in Two Lives: The Remnant” by Enchi Fumiko “The Woman with the Flying Head” by Kurahashi Yumiko “The Mirror” by Murakami Haruki Notes and Credits