Japanese Supernatural Tales

A haunting gathering of classic Japanese tales of monsters and demons, yōkai and oni and yūrei, that live on in popular manga, anime, J-horror films, and video games

A Penguin Classic

Flesh-eating oni demons, kappa water sprites, shapeshifting kitsune foxes, vengeful yūrei ghosts, and other monsters and magical creatures have long lurked in the shadows of Japanese culture, appearing as divine beings in eighth-century myths, dangerous demons in medieval literature, troublesome tricksters in local legends, and sinister predators in modern fiction. With dozens of stories, including twenty-four that have never been published in English, this volume showcases an incomparable range of the supernatural—from the beautiful ghost that seduces a widowed samurai, to the jorōgumo spiders that transform into women to ensnare their human prey, to the sentient reflection that unnerves a night watchman in Haruki Murakami’s “The Mirror”—inviting you into a realm of frightening otherness from a rich, thousand-year tradition.

Introduction by Michael Dylan Foster
Suggestions for Further Reading
Acknowledgments
A Note About Japanese Names and Words

JAPANESE SUPERNATURAL TALES

I. THE AGE OF THE GODS
Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters)

II. COURT AND COUNTRYSIDE
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
Tales of Times Now Past
Two Tales of Tengu

III. EDO PERIOD AND THE KAIDAN BOOM
Selections from Hand Puppets (Otogibōko) by Asai Ryōi
Selections from One Hundred Tales from the Various Provinces(Shokoku hyaku-monogatari)
“A Ghost Asks Jūsaku a Favor” from Taihei hyaku-monogatari
“The Smallpox Demon” from Nanreishi by Tada Yoshitoshi
“Will-o’- the- Wisps” from Isetsu-machimachi by Wada Ukō
“Death and the Mermaid” from Exemplary Tales of the Way of the Warrior by Ihara Saikaku
Two Spider Tales
“Shuten Dōji”
“The House Amid the Thickets” from Tales of Moonlight and Rain (Ugetsu monogatari) by Ueda Akinari
Selections from Mimi-bukuro by Negishi Yasumori
Selections from Toen shōsetsu by Kyokutei Bakin

IV. THE MEIJI TRANSITION
News of the Times
Two Tales by Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo)
“Sea Dæmons” by Izumi Kyōka

V. STORIES OF A MODERN NATION
A Selection of Legends
Two Stories by Okamoto Kidō
“The Man Traveling with the Brocade Portrait” by Edogawa Ranpo
“The Sea Monk” by Tanaka Kōtarō
“Happiness” by Nakajima Atsushi
“The Mermaid and the Samurai” by Dazai Osamu
“Love in Two Lives: The Remnant” by Enchi Fumiko
“The Woman with the Flying Head” by Kurahashi Yumiko
“The Mirror” by Murakami Haruki

Notes and Credits