Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

About this book

Kwaidan, 'strange tales', is a collection of Japanese ghost stories and legends retold in English: the blind musician Hoichi, whose body is covered with sacred texts to protect him from ghosts, except his ears; the Snow Woman, who spares a young woodcutter on condition that he never speak of her; the faceless Mujina met on a lonely road at night; and others, followed by short studies of butterflies, mosquitoes and ants.

Context and significance

Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904), born on the Greek island of Lefkada to an Irish father and a Greek mother, settled in Japan in 1890, married a Japanese woman, Koizumi Setsu, who told him many of these tales, took the name Koizumi Yakumo, and became one of the first Western writers to interpret Japan for the world. Kwaidan appeared in 1904, the year of his death, and Masaki Kobayashi's 1964 film adapted several of its stories. Compare The Book of Tea.

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