A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition: From Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga
Authors: Patrick Drazen
A Gathering of Spirits: Japan’s Ghost Story Tradition
From Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga
Patrick Drazen
iUniverse, Inc.
Bloomington
A Gathering of Spirits: Japan’s Ghost Story Tradition
From Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga
Copyright © 2011 by Patrick Drazen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:
iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-2942-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-4620-2943-3 (ebk)
Printed in the United States of America
iUniverse rev. date:06/22/2011
Contents
CHAPTER 1: TO GET THINGS STARTED
01. “Tell me …”
02. My Mother, the Hungry Ghost
03. Don’t forget me
04. “Don’t shoot!”
05. Blue Roses
06. “I’m running away!”
CHAPTER 4: “I’LL BE YOUR GUIDE”
07. The Red Hydrangea
08. “The afterlife sure seems to have a lot of rules.”
09. The Ring
10. The Neglected Wife
11. Barefoot Gen—His Mother’s Bones
12. A Bolt of Lightning
13. Attached to the House
14. The Hungry Ghost
15. Remembering Mother
16. The Return of Nobunaga
CHAPTER 6: HYAKU MONOGATARI (ONE HUNDRED STORIES)
17. Dead Air
CHAPTER 7: CEMETERIES IN JAPAN
18. “Daddy will find me.”
19. The Glorious Princess
20. For the love of the game
21. The Da Vinci Code
22. Mirror and Bell
23. The Temporary Suicide
CHAPTER 9: CLASSIC JAPANESE GHOST LITERATURE
24. Genji and Lady Rokujo
CHAPTER 10: OKIKU OF THE PLATES
25. “six, seven, eight, nine …”
CHAPTER 11: OIWA AND THE YOTSUYA KAIDAN
26. “You killed my father, and now me …”
27. The Flutist and the Warrior
28. Modern Western Noh: “The Gull”
CHAPTER 13: KAIDAN KASANEGAFUCHI
29. A Curse for Father and Son
CHAPTER 14: PRINCESS OF THE DARK TOWER A/K/A TENSHU MONOGATARI (STORY OF THE CASTLE TOWER)
30. Because of a falcon
31. Because even a dog should rest in peace
32. Mission accomplished
33. Whose ghost is it?
34. The Vampire Cat of Nabeshima
35. A Cure Worse Than the Disease
36. Hello Kitty
37. “So you were a kitten?”
38. The Boy Who Drew Cats
39. “At first, I only meant to keep her a few days …”
CHAPTER 16: BEYOND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
40. I want my princess
41. Death by Tree
42. Returning as a “Bug”
43. A Lustful Demon
CHAPTER 17: HOUSEHOLD GHOSTS: ZASHIKI
44. “Brother, poor brother”
45. One Hundred Hiccups
46. “Who are you?”
47. For a potato chip
48. Gift Exchange
CHAPTER 18: SPIRITS, SICKNESS AND SURGERY
49. Can a surgeon heal what’s wrong with a ghost?
50. On a snowy night
51. Just Two Students Chatting
CHAPTER 19: AT THE MOVIES: SOME CLASSIC POSTWAR JAPANESE GHOST FILMS
52. Witness from Beyond
53. Welcome Home
54. Domestic Disturbance
55. Swallowing a Soul
56. “Hey! Haven’t you heard? You’re living in a haunted house!”
57. Seven Days
CHAPTER 20: SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY
58. Dangerous Crossing
59. Family Snapshots
60. Preserve the Moment
61. A Yukionna
62. One Hundred for One
63. A Ghost in the Garden
64. One Last Thing to Do
65. School Spirit
CHAPTER 22: THE SCHOOL BOARD—KOKKURI-SAN
66. “I’m not a dog!”
67. “Didn’t I say you’d be cursed?”
68. The Coin and the Angel
69. The Devil’s Spell
70. “I have the twin cherry blossoms!”
71. O-tei Returns
72. They probably don’t even know
73. An unspoken crush
74. For a soccer ball
75. I miss you
76. The Peony Lantern
77. Let’s Spend the Night Together
78. Babysitter
79. Chaperone from beyond?
80. A Ghost Sweeper’s Apprentice
81. Beware of Cat
82. Love Among the Mummies
83. Taxi?
84. Diva
85. Only eight times
86. The Possessed Piano
87. A Killer Koto
88. The Twins Who Weren’t Alike
89. Got legs?
90. The Girl on Platform 5
91. Minnie
92. The Lonely Doll
93. Doll of Return
94. Mary
95. The Ghost of Moga-chan
96. “Stalker”
CHAPTER 29: A FEW WORDS ABOUT VAMPIRES
97. “I don’t want to die”
CHAPTER 30: IN A HAUNTED HOUSE
98. A child’s feelings