Japanese Horror Fiction

Vampires: murderous creatures in the shape of humans, they stalk the night feeding on the blood of innocents. Seemingly immortal, they can be destroyed only by the use of a stake through the heart, severing of their heads, or exposure to sunlight. By the year AD 12,090, vampires have ruled the Earth for almost 300 years, and it is only these weaknesses that have kept these foul monsters from totally overrunning the world. But what happens when those rules no longer apply?

In Ghostly Japan collects 12 ghostly stories from Lafcadio Hearn, deathless images of ghosts and goblins, touches of folklore and superstition, salted with traditions of the nation. While some of these stories contain nightmare imagery worthy of a midnight creature feature, others are not ghostly or ghastly at all. "Bits of Poetry" offers an engaging study on verse, and "Japanese Buddhist Proverbs" explains the meaning of several aphorisms based on Japanese cultural references.

In this collection of classic ghost stories from Japan, beautiful princesses turn out to be frogs, paintings come alive, deadly spectral brides haunt the living and a samurai delivers the baby of a Shinto goddess with mystical help. Here are all the phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folklore: 'rokuro-kubi', whose heads separate from their bodies at night; 'jikininki', or flesh-eating goblins; and terrifying faceless 'mujina' who haunt lonely neighbourhoods.

When her cozy hometown is visited by death, Emma's investigative skills are enlisted by a secretive ghost. But with the uncooperative spirit holding so much back, and with the handsome local doctor pressing Emma for answers, will she ever get to the bottom of the case? Or will the Hollow be forever haunted by the secrets of the past?

振り向いてはいけない！怪談看護師が綴る血も凍る心霊カルテ！ねぇ、一緒に行こうよ…あるはずのないナースコール。それが押されるとき…

鋭利なまでの語りが闇夜を切り裂く！事故物件の腐乱死体を見分中に突然…憎悪の籠った目で睨みつけるその子は頭のてっぺんから足の先まで…硝子1枚隔てた目の前から覗き込む目は…

大切な方への贈り物に…真心を込めて4話詰め合わせ。満面の笑みが顔に貼りついたように無言でかっと見開いた目、その表情は記憶のままの…

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, was an Irish writer known also by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo. His book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, comprises two parts, the first being the "Kwaidan Proper" and the second, "Insect-Studies", which consists of an essay each on ants, butterflies and mosquitos. According to the author, most of the folk tales and ghost stories in the first part were translated from old Japanese texts. The themes encompass resurrection, sacrifice, magic, and the realm of dreams. 

〝国民のお墓〟が誘う、禁じられた霊たちの楽園！首が後ろに倒れていって、そのままぐるん！と…自殺した人と感覚がリンクしているんですよ…

The strange kid at school, the odd woman in the apartment building, the troublesome man at work. Such people exist everywhere, in everyone’s lives. All it takes is a word for it to start. An unsettling question, a bizarre remark, or even a kind apology. Once their hooks sink in, the cracks form. Darkness floods into the recesses until nothing else remains, and then...Sirens, screaming, dull thuds on the pavement. They have always existed. They just are. And when they show up, people die.

Jonathan is attracted to the ornate mirror from the first moment he sees it in the antique shop where he works after school. But there is something wrong with the mirror, something evil - as Jonathan will discover after he accidentally gets a trace of his blood on its surface in this disturbing tale of terror.

Four years ago, five kids started a game. Not all of them survived. Now, at the end of their senior year of high school, the survivors—Owen, Madeline, Emerson, and Dax—have reunited for one strange and terrible reason: they’ve been summoned by the ghost of Ian, the friend they left for dead. Together they return to the place where their friendship ended with one goal: find Ian and bring him home. So they restart the deadly game they never finished—an innocent card-matching challenge called Meido. A game without instructions.

The picturesque coastal town of Florence was known for millennia as a pleasure resort for the Nobility. As retribution for their decadence, the cruel and beautiful vampire inhabitants were "punished," driven out more than a thousand years ago by a solitary traveler in black. Only one—Baron Meinster—refused to leave, only to be thrown to the waves by the mysterious assassin. Summoned to contemporary Florence by Su-in, sister of a murdered village girl, the enigmatic Vampire Hunter D discovers a vampire curse ravaging the town's human inhabitants.

【第4回創元SF短編賞を受賞。雄渾の遠未来ハードSF！】地球と太陽系を喪い、星の世界への進出を余儀なくされた人類は、生き延びるためにあらゆる形態の人間を生み出した。ぼくらもそうして生まれた宇宙船だ。そして今ぼくら2隻は特命を帯び、銀河中心にある巨大ブラックホールに向かって1600年に及ぶ旅を続けている――。

Based on Japanese literature and foldlore, Kwaidan contains 17 stories. The story of Loichi, the blind biwa player who was called to perform for the dead; of Muso, the journeying priest who encountered a man eating goblin; of the samurai who outwitted the ghost of a dead man. All these plus 14 other spooly tales are included in this collection.

神に魅入られた少年の辿った末路…山怪談の新鋭が贈る戦慄奇譚！恐怖で固まった笑顔、引きあげられた口角の縁には何本もの手が…何かが違う…夏休み明けに貌つきが変わった7人の生徒…

母の布団に蠢く首から上がない白装束の何か…不吉極まりない！6編の悪夢！うちの妹、雨の日になると出るんです…寝室に貯めこんでいた大量の位牌…蹲って何かを探す赤い服の女…

天空から零れ落ちた6片の怪異…霊安室でなぜかほくそ笑む看護師…転落し罅割れた携帯に光る着信のサイン…首から上が紫で、前から見ると魚のようにぺったんこな顔が…

夢が現実を蝕んでいく…「あんた、この先の橋を渡ったら、死ぬよ」床に遺された無数の足跡…目も口もない蛇のようなものが…赤いお札がびっしりと…

神職、古物商、清掃作業員…そして怪談師まで！仕事の数だけ怪はある！年代物の風鈴から吊り下げられていたもの…いちばん最初に死んだ人が連れに来るんだよ…