Japanese Gothic Tales by Izumi Kyoka is a fascinating and frightening journey into a world of supernatural and nightmarish occurrences. Some have compared Izumi to E.T.A. Hoffman. This comparison is an apt one. Both writers create eerily serene landscapes and backgrounds. Both sketch bizarre characters and scenes. And both write with hypnotic power.Comparisons aside, Izumi is a genius story teller and the foremost writer of Gothic literature in Japan. Unfortunately, he has been mostly forgotten and overshadowed by the modernists. His legacy has not gone unnoticed, however, as Mishima Yukio praises him as the greatest writer since Ihara Saikaku.The most famous tale in this four-story collection is The Holy Man of Mount Koya. It is mainly anecdotal, retold by a monk to a fellow lodger whom he meets along his way. This story is about the monk who, out of good conscience, decides to go by a dangerous road to help a medicine vendor who has taken the road before him, a path over steep and forested mountains, this despite being forewarned. Once on his way he encounters menacing snakes, and later, bloodthirsty leeches that fall from trees. Even the heat of the day conspires against him. Almost without hope, he chances upon a farm house. There he meets a woman of unearthly beauty and her lame husband. He is bewitched by her alluring power. Later he is made aware of his perilous situation by an old man of the mountains. Finally, persuaded, he leaves her behind.Throughout the entire story one can not help but be enchanted by the scenery of grotesque creatures, cursed woods and strange people. Izumi's tales are both beautifully ethereal and terrifyingly vivid, and this is what makes him compelling to read.
Hard to get through, but rewarding. For me the strongest story came at the beginning, "The Surgery Room." The rest of the stories didn't hit me emotionally, but I found plenty of spectacular effects and moves to rip off. Here are some you may find interesting:54: "Turning ever darker, the deep mountains grew more lonely and intense." 77: "To his dazzled eyes, it was as if the two weavers at their looms had been vaguely copied onto a piece of white paper, and that the remaining space around them had been painted yellow."78: "The wanderer... found himself enclosed in a triangle formed by a line that connected the snake at the corner house, the snake in the rape field, and this herd of horses." --note that these aren't geographical landmarks that form the triangle, but appearances (apparitions?) of animals. Weird and useful. Not all geographies involve landmarks: there are also geographies of impression.141-142: "Noticing the color, he became the protagonist of this story." Now this is a cool way to get a character in your tale.144: "Taken together, her crimson undergarment, her unstockinged feet, the suggestive hairdo, and the formal jacket gave an impression of discord."145: "She was more awesome than beautiful."146: "...a room overlooking the city, the perfect place for someone's kept mistress."
Do You like book Japanese Gothic Tales (1996)?
I haven´t other word to say how fantastic its stories are: CLASSIC.
—Yumi
I've been thinking of what to say in my review for several hours now but it seems this book has left me dumbstruck. I really enjoyed it, both the stories themselves and the academic material both at the beginning and the end of the book. I think I wouldn't have enjoyed the former without the latter; knowing why the stories were written that way, seeing what the imagery symbolized and noticing it throughout every narrative, learning how the tales all led back to the author's real life, that information made what might otherwise have been frustratingly confusing and disjointed stories into deeply interesting works of art. Yes, I really loved reading this book. If you like dark, watery, mystical, romantic, and blood-stained stories, especially seasoned with old Japanese culture and history, this book is for you.
—Denise "Mika" Hutchins
