Japanese Supernatural Tales

Flesh-eating oni demons, kappa water sprites, shapeshifting kitsune foxes, vengeful yurei ghosts—monsters and magical creatures haunt Japanese history and literature. They appear as moralistic figures in eighth-century folktales, comic relief in Edo-era kabuki plays, ghostly encounters in the storytelling game hyaku-monogatari, and sinister predators in contemporary detective novels. This volume brings together an incomparable range — more than one thousand years’ worth, from premodern to modern — of the most horrifying and enduring supernatural stories that have exploded in popularity in anime, video games, and horror movies.