The Annotated In Ghostly Japan By Lafcadio Hearn (Lafcadio Hea...

“Ghostly” was Lafcadio Hearn’s favorite descriptive word but he also liked to use such words as “ghoulish,” “bizarre,” “weird,” “hideous,” and “monstrous.” All those words apply here in The Annotated In Ghostly Japan. Whether you like your spirits living or dead, you are bound to find some chills here as Hearn presents us with a collection, a sketchbook if you will, of twelve stories and essays. How about a tale of a young Buddhist pilgrim as he ascends a mountain of human skulls? Or the spirit of a dead girl who comes back to claim her samurai lover — forever — and takes him back with her to the underworld. Or perhaps you would prefer a grasping hand that even though dead will not let go of what it holds? As a temporary relief from these frights, Hearn offers us a respite in the form of some wonderful bits of Japanese poetry and one hundred Japanese proverbs, some of which themselves are a bit “ghostly” if not delightfully sensitive, educational, and intellectually stimulating — even funny. Or perhaps you would find a visit to an incense party more to your liking? Detailed with profuse notes and colorfully illustrated by author and Japan scholar Hayato Tokugawa, you will find this some of the absolute best of Japan’s chief storyteller and sensei on Japanese culture to the West, Lafcadio Hearn.

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