Kwaidan

Unfortunately, I couldn't make last week's class (which was a shame because I absolutely love j-horror) but I did get a chance to read a bunch of the short stories from Kwaidan! I read all of the suggested stories, and a few others.

What I really enjoyed about these stories was that there wasn't always a black and white definition of "good and evil". The character's were usually in a grey area- unlike the usual Western superhero and villain. For example, in one of the stories, the snow maiden with pale skin had promised not to kill the man as long as he never spoke of their encounter. But in the end, even when he did spill the beans she spared his life for a second time because of her love for their children. In Hoichi the musician's story, the ghostly samurai under strict orders might have ripped away Hoichi's ears- but Hoichi healed and became an even greater and more famous musician after!

There was never really any epic showdown between the good and bad guy, which is why I enjoyed these short ghost stories so much. Even though Kwaidan is filled with bizarre and amazing creatures, the personalities themselves are more realistic in my opinion. It also made the plots themselves less predictable.

My favorite story from Kwaidan was Jikininki. I loved the idea of that this creature would come at night to consume the dead of the village and that everyone in town just kind of accepted the fact that the bodies of their dead would disappear in a mysterious way. Having the monster end up being the corrupted soul of an old priest was a great twist.

It's great to be able to read superstitions and folklore from other parts of the world. It really gives an insight to the culture of that era, and its fascinating to me to find the differences and similarities between the folklore of other regions. This has so far been my favorite book in the semester, and I plan on finishing up the rest of the stories when I have the free time.