Japanese Ghost

In this collection of classic ghost stories from Japan, beautiful princesses turn out to be frogs, paintings come alive, deadly spectral brides haunt the living and a samurai delivers the baby of a Shinto goddess with mystical help. Here are all the phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folklore: 'rokuro-kubi', whose heads separate from their bodies at night; 'jikininki', or flesh-eating goblins; and terrifying faceless 'mujina' who haunt lonely neighbourhoods.

In the shadowed corridors of Himeji Castle, forbidden love blooms between the servant Okiku and a prisoner, the enigmatic ronin Shinji. Okiku’s duties and desires collide as she’s torn between loyalty and longing. Yet Aoyama Tessan, a samurai with dark obsessions, covets her fiercely. When a plate goes missing, betrayal, jealousy, and murder unravel Okiku’s life, thrusting her into a nightmare beyond death. Returning as an onryou, her vengeance is bound to her love—but will fury consume her soul?

In Ghostly Japan collects 12 ghostly stories from Lafcadio Hearn, deathless images of ghosts and goblins, touches of folklore and superstition, salted with traditions of the nation. While some of these stories contain nightmare imagery worthy of a midnight creature feature, others are not ghostly or ghastly at all. "Bits of Poetry" offers an engaging study on verse, and "Japanese Buddhist Proverbs" explains the meaning of several aphorisms based on Japanese cultural references.

A wonderful collection of spine-tingling ghost stories and thought-provoking essays on insects. This new version has an introduction "Hearn and Japan", which details the continuing influence of Hearn on contemporary Japan.

Japanese folklore is abundant with tales of ghostly creatures and the supernatural. In Haunted Japan, author Catrien Ross reveals the legends that have been passed down for generations and continue to terrify us today.