Kwaidan is a collection of weird, ghostly legends and beliefs of old Japan. Hearn spent 14 years in Japan, translating into English with superb effect the atmosphere of the tales which he avidly collected.
Based on Japanese literature and foldlore, Kwaidan contains 17 stories. The story of Loichi, the blind biwa player who was called to perform for the dead; of Muso, the journeying priest who encountered a man eating goblin; of the samurai who outwitted the ghost of a dead man. All these plus 14 other spooly tales are included in this collection.
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"Very snappy little book, with some nice color thrown into the telling of the folktales by Hearn. Just reading the introduction about his life story was pretty amusing really. I also really liked not just the ghost stories he included in this, but the bits and pieces about insects toward the end. " — Marissa (4 out of 5 stars)
"Very snappy little book, with some nice color thrown into the telling of the folktales by Hearn. Just reading the introduction about his life story was pretty amusing really. I also really liked not just the ghost stories he included in this, but the bits and pieces about insects toward the end. "
" Interesting and insightful, allows a unique peek into the culture of Japan that was. The latter, insect-focused part of the book is rather boring, but the stories themselves are quite fascinating. "
" AS always, great work by Hearn. "
" I'd always avoided this author because I was under the impression that he was one of the "Japan as a postcard" type authors. This book was a fun read if you like old weird tales. "
" I enjoyed Hearn's simple straightforward approach to these stories of the uncanny. Some of them, like "Mujina" are weirdly witty, too. The butterfly chapter was fun, but I didn't appreciate the one on ants. "
" I prefer the insect studies, but the ghost stories are cool too. "
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