Oriental Ghost Stories

‘ – and the man saw that she had no eyes or nose or mouth – and he screamed.’

Lafcadio Hearn’s fascinating and unsettling ghost stories are a reinterpretation of oriental legends, and folktales. They are a potent blend of weird beauty and horror.

Hearn, who referred to his narratives as ‘stories and studies of strange things’, believed that the spectral world was part of the oriental landscape. Lakes, mountains, ruined castles and terraced fields were the natural locale of ghostly spirits, and their intervention in human affairs was part of the natural order of things. Hearn’s apparitions are not a violent intrusion upon everyday reality; they are already a part of that reality, co-existing with the living.

This collection contains the best of the work of this neglected master of the supernatural tale. Prepare to be charmed and chilled in equal measure.

Contents:

Introduction by David Stuart Davies

The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hōïche

Oshidori

The Story of O-Tei

Ubazakura

Diplomacy

Of a Mirror and a Bell

Jikininki

Mujina

Rokuro-Kubi

A Dead Secret

Yuki-Onna

The Story of Aoyagi

Jiu-Roku-Zakura

The Dream of Akinosuke

Riki-Baka

Hi-Mawari

Hōrai

Fragment

Furisodé

Incense

A Story of Divination

Silkworms

A Passional Karma

The Soul of the Great Bell

The Story of Ming-Y

The Legend of Tchi-Niu

The Return of Yen-Tchin-King

The Tradition of the Tea-Plant

The Tale of the Porcelain-God