Lafcadio Hearn 
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things 

Kwaidan presents the complete text of Hearn’s classic 1903 book of Japanese ghost stories, collected during travels in his adopted homeland and presented in English for consumption by Western audiences. This edition pairs the original stories with twenty-eight photographs from celebrated photographer Hiroshi Watanabe, as well as an introduction from horror expert Paul Murray. Watanabe’s photographs provide illumination and illustration for these eerie tales Kwaidan is a collection of Japanese strange stories mostly based on supernatural superstition and Buddhist religious beliefs with a hint of history involved. The stories are fairly simple upon reading but evoke more considerable messages and views. The first story is about a man called Hoichi the earless because he got involved into a spirit trap; he touched where he wasn’t supposed to and the only way for his survival was to turn to a priest.