Kwaidan
Subtitle: stories and studies of strange things
By: Lafcadio Hearn.
Contributors: Rogers, Bruce, 1870-1957, former owner.; Oliver Wendell Holmes Library Collection (Library of Congress); Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers Collection (Library of Congress)
Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin and Co.
Published: 1904
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
Subjects: Japan -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.
Description: "Kwaidan" translates from the Japanese as weird tales, which perfectly describes these haunting stories. This collection of supernatural tales includes a musician called upon to perform for the dead, man-eating goblins, and insects who uncannily mimic human behavior. A perfect treat for fans of the strange and otherworldly. It is a unique collection of haunting Japanese supernatural stories written by a Westerner who adopted Japan as his homeland.

Hearn collects seventeen Japanese ghost stories (and a few nonfiction pieces about insects) in this 1904 volume. While most of these stories are translations from older texts, one was the first printed recording of a Japanese farmer's tale and a few others are Hearn originals. Included are accounts of ghosts who eat freshly deceased corpses, ghosts who look human during the day but stretch their necks and alter their faces at night, ghosts who bewitch their human targets, and many other ghastly figures.
Notes: Work of Bruce Rogers, 110
Warde, F. Bruce Rogers, 43
Designed by Bruce Rogers.