Kwaidan

Whether a fan of anime and video games, or an admirer of ancient Noh drama and Kabuki dances, one can’t really know the heart of Japan without reading Lafcadio Hearn’s translations of ghostly tales, all contained in this amazing volume. There are demons and goblins that exist way-y-y beyond the average Westerner’s mind. There are legends that send chills up and down the spine, creatures without faces, a man who marries the love of his life only to lose her after just five years because she is really the soul of a tree… Enjoy these stories of the bewitched and… show more.

Kwaidan is a very special book for me. It introduced me to the world of the Japanese supernatural in my early teens. A confirmed devotee of Western horror and supernatural fiction at the time, Kwaidan opened up a whole new world that I didn’t know existed. It is written in a style that made this strange alien world totally accessible to someone who knew nothing of the now familiar tropes in a pre-Internet era where information was not so readily accessible. One of my greatest pleasures was introducing this book to my son. He loved it so much that when… show more.