Final Statement/Revision-Kwaidan

All over Earth each and every human culture has its own unique form of ghostly tales and supernatural mythology. In the States you get the typical urban tale of the monster in the backwoods or a haunted house, South America has giant river monsters, the Alps have Abominable Snowmen, and so on. And of course it should come to no surprise that Japan has its fair share of strangely unique supernatural tales.

            I’ve read many tales in the horror genre but Kwaidan came as a breath of fresh air. Most horror tales I’ve read were the typical generic ones that followed the same pattern as most others. It became pretty boring almost seeing the same formula used over and over again and I’ve come to feel that the horror genre is constantly trapped in some sort of repetitious circle of clichés. But with Kwaidan I’ve gained a newfound interest in horror and I might just pick up my old habit of horror reading.

            There’s just something so bizarre and interesting about Japanese ghost stories compared to any elsewhere. Some tales focus on nature spirits which cause some form of mischief or long dead samurai back from the grave seeking our revenge. The tales from Kwaidan offer a vast array of great ghost stories like these and I found them to be entertaining to read through.

            A tale from Kwaidan I found fun to read was Mimi-Mashi-Hoichi, or also known as Hoichi the Earless. Its basically a tale focusing on a blin biwa master who’s songs cause those around him to succumb to his music and react very emotionally. The tale is interesting in that its told in a manner which doesn’t follow the typical ghost story formula like the “random haunted house” or “ghost in the attic”. Hoichi is asked by a guard to come play for a lord and his attendants and does so. After many nights of doing this the monks who look after him discover that a ghost has been leading him to a graveyard to play for the long deceased lord and attendants. The next time the guard comes they cover poor Hoichi in protective seals but in the end the ghost guard takes his ears because they were the only part not covered. Talk about ironic.