A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition: From Folklore and Kabuki to Anime and Manga (32 page)
Authors: Patrick Drazen
[
103
] Spoiler alert: he is held to account in the anime version.
[
104
] This is a loaded name for the series’ spiritualist. It invokes Himiko, the first recorded female ruler of Japan; Himiko, who was a sorceress and a shaman, was born about the year 175 C.E. and died in 248, although there is very little known about Himiko and even these dates are disputed. As a shaman, she reportedly left the actual day-to-day government of ancient Japan to her brother.
[
105
] See Troy Taylor’s website, http://www.prairieghosts.com/resurcem.html, accessed January 18, 2007.
[
106
] For some reason, the salvage crew has its encounter with Madame on October 12, 2092—the 600
th
anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the western hemisphere.
[
107
]http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/7731/hitogata.htm, accessed October 29, 2006.
[
108
] One relatively mild example occurred in the
Don Dracula
manga by Osamu Tezuka, when the vampire tells his daughter Chocula, “I don’t like Koreans; they cook with too much garlic.”
[
109
] Do I really need to explain why the women would be more sensitive to this?
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: TO GET THINGS STARTED
02. My Mother, the Hungry Ghost
CHAPTER 4: “I’LL BE YOUR GUIDE”
08. “The afterlife sure seems to have a lot of rules.”
11. Barefoot Gen—His Mother’s Bones
CHAPTER 6: HYAKU MONOGATARI (ONE HUNDRED STORIES)
CHAPTER 7: CEMETERIES IN JAPAN
CHAPTER 9: CLASSIC JAPANESE GHOST LITERATURE
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)
31. Because even a dog should rest in peace