Lafcadio Hearn 
Kwaidan Japanese Ghost Stories and Insect Studies 

A wonderful collection of memorable ghost stories and thought-provoking essays on insects. Included are: new introduction HEARN AND JAPAN, 1904 INTRODUCTION, THE STORY OF MIMI-NASHI-HŌÏCHI, THE CORPSE-RIDER, OSHIDORI, THE RECONCILIATION, THE STORY OF O-TEI, UBAZAKURA, THE LEGEND OF FUGEN-BOSATSU, DIPLOMACY, OF A MIRROR AND A BELL, JIKININKI, THE SYMPATHY OF BENTEN, MUJINA, ROKURO-KUBI, A DEAD SECRET, YUKI-ONNA, THE STORY OF AOYAGI, JIU-ROKU-ZAKURA, THE DREAM OF AKINOSUKÉ, RIKI-BAKA, HŌRAI, INSECT STUDIES including: BUTTERFLIES, MOSQUITOES, ANTS.

Each story and essay is headed up with a delightful illustration. This collection of twenty ghost stories and three insect studies are from a number of Lafcadio Hearn’s writings and include his book ‘KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things’ which was originally published in 1904, the year of his death. In this 2023 edition, I’ve kept the title Kwaidan which is actually the English pronunciation of the Japanese kanji 怪談 meaning ‘ghost stories’. Several stories are included here which were not in the original Kwaidan book. To help contemporary readers, I added illustrations, translations of the story titles, attached Hearn’s notes to the text for easier access, and created an audiobook version I narrated under my pseudonym Nanako Water. (The audiobook is available on Audible.)