J-Horror: Asian Supernatural Narratives


18 Feb 2019


I'm just catching up... For Asian Horror reading, I read Kwaidan. I think it’s really interesting that it doesn’t feel like the horror story I expected. It feels more like folktales with moral message, and specifically has ghosts or spirits in the story… or sometimes just death.

Reading Kwaidan brings me back to childhood memories when I spent a lot of times reading folktales, either local or from other countries. I remember when I was in elementary school, I was always excited to get my Indonesian text books every beginning of the semester. I would go through all the pages and looked for any folktales reading I could find. Also the times when I would go the school library with my friend after class and read different folktales. I don’t know how I would feel if the younger me read Kwaidan. I wonder if I would feel scared? I want to say that I wouldn’t because it doesn’t feel scary at all now. Maybe as a kid, the weird moments like when the spirit of the Mandarin duck visited the man and killed herself in front of him would make me think twice about eating fried duck… The Yuki-Onna might scared me more. Or the flesh-eating priest. But since the way the stories are written doesn’t feel that scary, but more on the quiet side rather than “anxiety-building”, it stands more as unforgettable stories for me. The dream of Akinosuke was an interesting one. It’s more fantasy like than horror. If it’s not part of the Kwaidan collection, I wouldn’t think it’s a horror story.

Overall, I think Kwaidan is a successful collection of stories. It passes on the local believes and it’s a fun read too.

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