Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan

Kwaidan was a fascinating book to me because I have not read any Japanese horror before. I really enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the Asian setting, the strange and sometimes absurd characters that were presented, and being introduced to a variety of new Asian vocabulary.

In western horror or gothic literature and media, we expect gore, violence, monsters, and other nefarious actions or wicked individuals. In lots of horror and gothic stories, the evil in the story is based on religion and superstitions. Common occurrences are demonic possessions, crazy serial killers, or angry ghosts. Japanese horror is similar to western horror but different in one specific way: In Japanese horror, you still get the gore, the violence, and the monsters - but they are closely tied to the entire culture of the Japanese people. In most of all the stories in Kwaidan, the supernatural occurrences originate from some important story or tale ingrained in the Japanese society.

A great example of these cultural evils are the protagonists in “Rokuro-Kubi”. This story follows a former warrior turned to priesthood that stumbles upon a great evil in the woods. This evil is the Rokuro-Kubi – strange apparitions that leave their earthly bodies at night and float around the woods searching for human flesh. The premise of the story isn’t so unfamiliar to other stories I have read in western society. However, the apparitions are closely related to Japanese culture because the priest knew exactly what they were and how to dispose of them. Similarly, the council who almost sentenced the priest to death knew what evil the Rokuro-Kubi was once they examined the severed head attached to his clothing.

What I found intriguing was the absurdity of some of the character’s actions, like when the priest uprooted a small tree and started to attack floating heads with it or when he decided to continue his journey with the goblin’s head attached to his clothing. Absurdity is a trait that shows up numerous times in horror stories as the tales deviate farther and farther from logic or reality. When I read horror stories, I automatically expect some level of absurdity and Kwaidan did not disappoint.

“Mimi-Hashi-Hoichi” was another enjoyable story in Kwaidan that exemplified the connection between horror and Japanese culture.  Basically, a blind man named Hoichi is tricked into playing music on his biwa for creatures of the night. The creatures, called Heiké, are described as crabs with human faces who embody the spirits of the Heiké that died in the battle of Dan-no-ura. The entire story is rooted in Japanese culture as the manifestation of the Heiké crabs originated from the history behind a real Japanese clan. It is important to point out that its not uncommon for the evil entity to take advantage of the weakest members of society – hence why children and mentally handicapped people are such common targets of possession in western media. So it was of no surprise to me that Hoichi, the blind old man, is manipulated by the Heiké into playing these songs - yet another parallel between Japanese and western horror.