Episode 7: Kaidan—Japan’s Ghost Stories

Check out Episode 7 of the Read Japanese Literature podcast.

In this episode, we’ll be talking about Ueda Akinari and his Tales of Moonlight and Rain, some of the most influential Japanese ghost stories ever written.

A raging intellectual debate

A supernatural party game

And a friend just dying to keep his promises

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Find Out More

“Japanese Confucian Philosophy” at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

“Japanese Philosophy: Neo-Confucianism, the Samurai Code and Tokugawa Society” at Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

“The Kokugaku (Native Japan Studies) School” at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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The History of Japan Podcast, hosted by Isaac Meyer

• Episode 355: Tales of Moonlight and Rain

Ueda Akinari 1734-1809: Scholar, Poet, Writer of Fiction by Blake Morgan Young (Open Access PhD)

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Zach Davisson’s website, Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai—Translated Japanese Ghost Stories and Tales of the Weird and Strange

“The Real Japanese Story That Helped Inspire ‘The Ring’ at iHorror.com

“Smartening Up” by Aoko Matsuda at Granta Magazine

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Linfamy’s Japanese History and Folktales YouTube Channel

Understanding Japan: A Cultural History by Professor Mark J. Ravina. Produced by The Great Courses, 2015.

“Literature” at Japanese Wiki Corpus

Japanese Literature at Facebook

Selected Sources

Araki, James T. “A Critical Approach to the Ugetsu Monogatari” in Monumenta Nipponica, 1967.

Chambers, Anthony, trans. “Introduction” in Tales of Moonlight and Rain, 2008.

–. “Hankai: A Translation from Harusame Monogatari” in Monumenta Nipponica, 1970.

Davisson, Zack. Yurei: The Japanese Ghost, 2015.

De Bary, Theodore, et al., eds. Sources of Japanese Tradition, 1600-2000, 1964.

Kato Kazumitsu. “Some Notes on Mono no Aware” in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1962.

Marcus, Marvin. Japanese Literature from Murasaki to Murakami. Association for Asian Studies, 2015.

Meyer, Isaac. “Episode 355: Tales of Moonlight and Rain”.  History of Japan Podcast, 2020.

Reider, Noriko T. “The Emergence of ‘Kaidan-Shū’:The Collection of Tales of the Strange and Mysterious in the Edo Period” in Asian Folklore Studies, 2001.

Roddy, Stephen J. “In Praise of Jeweled Streams: ‘Ugetsu Monogatari’, Nativism, and Tea” in Japanese Language and Literature, 2015.

Saunders, Dale. “‘Ugetsu Monogatari’ or Tales of Moonlight and Rain” in Monumenta Nipponica, 1966.

Teeuwen, Mark. “Review: Kokugaku vs. Nativism” in Monumenta Nipponica, 2006.

Whitehouse, Wilfred, trans. “Shiramine” in Monumenta Nipponica, 1938.

Young, Blake Morgan, trans. “‘Hankai’ A Tale from the Harusame Monogatari by Ueda Akinari” in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 1972.