Kwaidan (? points)

Since Kwaidan is a collection of short stories, I am going to section off my analyses by story. The stories I chose were based almost exclusively on title alone.

Mimi-Nashi-Hitoshi:

I think what I like most about Asian, especially Japanese, folk tales is how spirits vary in their morality to the point of almost being a caricature of human personality. Like in this story, a lot of spirits are banal until disturbed. What counts as a disturbance varies a lot, sometimes being extremely silly, like the appearance of floating ears. Overall, I loved this story. It was very cute… except for the ear removal.

Of a Mirror and a Bell:

This was a weird one. The actual story was way shorter than I was anticipating it to be. The explanation of the term nazorareru was really insightful into the religious and cultural beliefs of the Japanese people at the time. Despite that, I can not help but be wary of how accurate the information actually is, because looking at the cover of the book, it seems to be very old and done by some Englishmen. Doing some quick Google searching, Patrick Lafcadio Hearn seems to be about as credible a source someone could have from a white guy in the late 1800s. I do wonder how much of customs such as nazorareru are inherently changed with translations to make an english-speaking audience understand.

Mujina:

This story reminded me a little bit of La Llorona, a Spanish folk horror story, about a woman who lures people to death with her crying. I don’t necessarily understand where the classification of the creatures being mujina came from, however. Doing a quick google search, mujina are supposed to be badger tricksters, not really out to harm others. The descriptions I found seem very contrary to the faceless creatures the man saw out in the woods. That last bit about the soba vendor’s face turning “unto an egg” was really delightfully scary to me.

A Dead Secret:

With this story I have started to understand a trend at the endings of these tales. They usually end on some sort of cliff hanger, either with the fate of the protagonist not completely certain or loose ends untied. I wonder if it is a side effect of these stories most likely starting as word-of-mouth tales. The open end allows the listener to come to their own conclusions about the story and make them want to tell it to others.

The Dream of Akinosuke:

This story was so cute, and I loved the twist of the ant marrying at the end. I don’t necessarily understand how this is under horror, but I guess the destruction of the ant village of Tokoyo is shockingly tone-deaf and grim compared to the dream.