Kwaidan (怪談, which in modern Japanese is now romanized and pronounced as kaidan) is a Japanese word that, in its broadest sense, refers to any ghost story. However, the word was popularised in English by Lafcadio Hearn in his book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things as denoting a particular genre of old Japanese tales. Many such tales were included in the aforementioned book, and others include the story of Okiku. The film Kwaidan drew its four stories from Hearn's book. Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Rōmaji ローマ字 Romanization of Japanese refers to the romanization of Japanese words, which are written in ideographic characters borrowed from Chinese (kanji) and syllabic scripts (kana). ... A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief of some character(s) in them. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Lafcadio Hearn, aka Koizumi Yakumo. ... Look up book in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Okiku is a character in Japanese folklore. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... Kwaidan (怪談, Kaidan, 1965) is a film directed by Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi and is based on one of Lafcadio Hearns collections of Japanese folk tales, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1903). ...

It can also be used to refer to certain J-Horror books and films of the modern era that draw from this genre, such as Ju-on and Ring (as well as the book on which the latter was based). Poster for Dark Water J-Horror is a term used to refer to Japanese contributions to horror fiction in popular culture. ... Promotional posters for The Grudge in Japan retained the original series title prefix of Ju-on. ... Ring ) is a 1998 Japanese horror mystery film from director Hideo Nakata, adapted from a novel by Koji Suzuki of the same name. ... Ring is a horror novel by Koji Suzuki set in modern day Japan. ...

Plot elements

Kwaidan very frequently involve a vengeful ghost tormenting someone who was cruel to them in life. The ghost of the girl Okiku does this to her master by weeping incessantly, and it forms whole basis of the story Diplomacy in Hearn's book. Okiku is a character in Japanese folklore. ...

The Ring films take this motif a step further by having the character of Sadako (a character reminiscent of Okiku right down to the cause of her death) take revenge not only on those responsible for her death but on everyone. Ring ) is a 1998 Japanese horror mystery film from director Hideo Nakata, adapted from a novel by Koji Suzuki of the same name. ... Sadako Yamamura, the main character of the Ring series of movies. ...

They also usually involve a surprise ending or an ending that is very vague or unclear. A surprise ending is a literary technique where a piece of fiction, such as a novel, short story, or movie, ends otherwise than the reader might expect. ... Ambiguity is one way in which the meanings of words and phrases can be unclear, but there is another way, which is different from ambiguity: vagueness. ...

See also

• Japanese mythology
• J-Horror
• Lafcadio Hearn
• Obake
• Yokai
• Yurei
• Glen Grant
• Shigeru Mizuki

Japanese mythology is an extremely complex system of beliefs. ... Poster for Dark Water J-Horror is a term used to refer to Japanese contributions to horror fiction in popular culture. ... Lafcadio Hearn, aka Koizumi Yakumo. ... Obake, also called obakemono, are the traditional ghosts, goblins and monsters from Japanese folklore; the term includes youkai (goblins and monsters) and yuurei (vengeful spirits of the dead). ... The ghost of Oiwa manifesting herself as a lantern obake. ... Yūrei (幽霊) are Japanese ghosts. ... Glen Grant, looking through the window of his store, the Haunt, in a 2001 photo. ... Shigeru Mizuki (水木しげる b. ...

External links

• Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.
• A site with several kwaidan.