The Snow Ghost and Other Tales: Classic Japanese Ghost Stories
£8.50
Enter the haunted world of Ancient Japan in this spine-tingling collection of ghostly tales told and retold across the centuries.
From Goblin infested caves and haunted Tombs, to vengeful spirits and strange, sinister happenings, Ancient Japan was a country and culture that lived with between realms: the world of everyday and the world of supernatural.
It was a time and place where men could be brought down by karmic forces or lured into deadly danger by ghostly apparitions, and where the land held sorrowful secrets or stories that long-awaited an opportunity to reveal them and seek reparation.
The Snow Ghost and Other Tales brings together some of the best and scariest tales that endured across centuries of folk lore in one new beautiful hardback collection. Finally commited to writing during the turn of the twenieth cenutry by a unique set of folklorists, the ghost stories presented in this new anthology will transport readers to a time of magic and mystery, and let them relish in the spine-tingling traditions of Japanese culture largely lost now to modernity.
For readers of Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell and Shirley Jackson
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by pb14
This is a collection of Japanese ghost stories and other folk tales in English. In particular, it is a collection from a hundred years ago or more (many turn of the twentieth century) so what we are getting are Anglicizations and translations of traditional stories, light on explainers but often with framing devices of “I was told this story…” There is an academic feel to its language in places, and there is an anthropological air which doesn’t really seem to care if the stories turn out to be – er – a bit rubbish. But that’s all part of the survey, and in a not-dissimilar collection of Irish folk tales I read in the last year or so, there are still a fair few that boil down to “there bain’t been a priest in these mountains for forty year”.
Some of these tales are very basic, with what the west saw as Japanese traits, so hari-kiri is the precursor to many a ghost here, as is the pining woman. There is a Shinto flavour to many of them too, with spirits guarding places, and in one particular high point, a Camphor Tree. And even when you think these are getting tame, suddenly a bout of extreme cruelty or horror will suddenly pop up – one of the shorter stories here ends up with a radical dismemberment of a small child for the sins of his mother. It does feel more like a resource, or even a toilet book, that a coherent collection (the dates of the tales suggest its all copyright free), but an interesting survey nonetheless both for its content, and how that content came to be.
by Richard Latham
I seem to have been drawn to literature from Japan in the past few months; something that began a couple of years ago and has been steadily gaining pace.
Certainly, here is a book that satisfies the need to learn about those chilling ghosts stories and tales of terror that strike fear into the average citizen’s heart.
If these episodes potentially scare you then you should keep a light on. They have common themes bordering on horror, reflecting superstition and religious practices and dealing with death often of the young and innocent.
So not for the faint hearted but revealing due to their historical authorship and rooted in culture, folklore and spiritual belief.
I think the key is to embrace and reflect upon the themes and familiar scenarios that although often repeating ideas of restless spirits and vengeful ghouls and goblins are full of fresh spookiness with each passing tale. The stories if read back to back might appear too similar and the fear watered down by their sameness. However, while the genre is consistent the means to offend the departed, insult the ancestors and lose one’s own life is varied and at times shockingly unexpected.
I loved the sense of being immersed in Japanese tradition and the darker side of another tradition’s culture. Stepping back you feel a sense of being not just an observer but a reluctant participant. Certainly without blood on your own hands but aware of the cries of the dead and the dripping of bodily fluids from fatal wounds.
by V. Halliday
The Snow Ghost and Other Tales is a collection of Japanese ghost stories which were collected in English in the beginning of the twentieth century.
As is common with collections of short stories, some are better than others and it’s best to read them over a period of time rather than consume in one go. Otherwise (like me) you might be wondering why so many beautiful 17 year old girls called die (usually of love) and then become evil spirits.
I’d have liked more information about how and why the stories were collected to add more historical interest. Still, an enjoyable collection which entertained me and which I’d recommend to other readers.