#Japanese Ghost Story

[a-bit-of-japanology]

Yotsuya Kaidan (四谷怪談), ukiyo-e by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

The story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today. Written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku IV as a kabuki play, the original title was Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan (東海道四谷怪談, Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tokaido). It is now generally shortened, and loosely translates as Ghost Story of Yotsuya.

First staged in July 1825, Yotsuya Kaidan appeared at the Nakamuraza Theater in Edo (the former name of present-day Tokyo) as a double-feature with the immensely popular Kanadehon Chushingura. Normally, with a Kabuki double-feature, the first play is staged in its entirety, followed by the second play. However, in the case of Yotsuya Kaidan it was decided to interweave the two dramas, with a full staging on two days: the first day started with Kanadehon Chushingura from Act I to Act VI, followed by Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan from Act I to Act III. The following day started with the Onbo canal scene, followed by Kanadehon Chushingura from Act VII to Act XI, then came Act IV and Act V of Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan to conclude the program.

The play was incredibly successful, and forced the producers to schedule extra out-of-season performances to meet demand. The story tapped into people’s fears by bringing the ghosts of Japan out of the temples and aristocrats' mansions and into the home of common people, the exact type of people who were the audience of his theater.

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[moonmausoleum]

Banchō Sarayashiki — the Ghost of Okiku

One of the more well known ghost stories in Japan is of the poor servant Okiku in the ghost story Banchō Sarayashiki has become the very image of a Japanese ghost story. The girl that died in the well and comes back, forever counting the plates.

One of the more well known ghost stories in Japan is of the poor servant Okiku in the ghost story Banchō Sarayashiki has become the very image of a Japanese ghost story. The girl that died in the well and comes back, forever counting the plates of her master, hoping that one time, she won’t be missing any. Okiku Well: by Katsushika Hokusai, most known for making the The Great Wave off Kanagawa,…

[technically-human]

*Reverses your Christmas*

A gift from @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are to all of you :) we really wanted the boys to get along for once, and what better occasion than Christmas? anything to make the Edwins happy!

[old-skyguy]

The silly stupid alien show about ghosts that steal your cock and balls just pulled the most gut wrenching, poignant shit possible and portrayed it so artistically and meaningfully what is even life.

This was MASTERFULLY done. The visual and environmental storytelling, the subtle foreshadowing, and inject those motifs into my fucking BLOOD.

Ho. Ly shit. Good fucking lord.

[horygory]

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (2023)

[forgetful-river]

A ghost at the end of the world

[jareckiworld]

Kuniteru Utagawa (1808-1876)—Nitta Shirō Tadatsune and the White Dragon Ghost [woodblock print, 1848]

[kinokoshoujoart]

CORRECT TAGS‼️‼️‼️‼️ @rn0na-lizard you are so so so correct….. my favorite ‘Normal Girl’ in hmds…….i almost never see anyone talk about these aspects of her let alone also love her for them as they should.

i feel like Leona/ DS lumina gets mischaracterized super often which is understandable bc out of all the DS candidates leona is the least like her ancestor (who i also love, for different reasons).

in AWL lumina was the only kid in the valley for a very long time, but many of the DS residents have lived in the valley their whole lives. while lumina had accepted her role as a proper young heiress by chapter 3 of AWL— and when DS begins Leona already at this point of her life— lumina still had a lingering sense of uncertainty and angst and loneliness and doubt, and unresolved worries about her parents. absolutely none of this is present with leona

in this world leona starts with Lumina’s 22 year old appearance, she’s just rich as hell and living her best life (as she deserves), she’s unabashedly shallow, puts herself first always, speaks so politely and affably yet she can be so casually cruel in the most genuine cute way and out of touch with reality and and i fucking love her and i’d die for her. my beloved girlboss girlkeep girlypop

more iconic Leona Moments

when muu/muffy asks for beauty advice leona’s recommendation is “this brand of mail order beauty cream is simply divine! and it was quite inexpensive too, just 100,000 G 🥰” everyone else looks uncomfortable and muu is like “you’re as frivolous as always….”

aside from the 3 who take literally half your money (Witch💖, moi, and thomas) leona and panama (romana) take the most money from you if they carry you home when you faint. just a couple of girl bosses holding on to their girlpire (btw shout out to sebastian, the only resident in the entire valley who carries you home for free)

neither panama nor leona attend the harvest festival, they send sebastian there by himself to test the food first lmao (if you poison it like the witch they’re harboring on their property requires you to do, sebastian is just like “i can’t serve this to Mistress Panama…”)

once again sebastian attacks mukumuku for her sake, this time not to make her a paintbrush but she told him to get her the best slippers and this was apparently the easiest way. sebastian gets fucking mauled btw

leona has hands down the best romance route in hmds. all her scenes are incredible but god the slow burn friends to lovers with your DVD player….

in her purple heart event she shows up at your house because she heard you have a DVD player, asks you to show her how it works, and then just leaves after she’s done playing with it

in her yellow heart event she has sebastian fetch van so she can buy a DVD player for herself but van’s like “i’m so sorry …. Pete… bought the last one….”

leona is so unable to stomach the idea of other people having things she doesn’t that she starts to cry and the only way to placate her is to tell her she can go to your house anytime she wants just so she can use your DVD player. that’s not a setup to a budding romance that’s her final heart event

it’s the most incredible romance arc in the world like girl you have infinite money you can just. buy a DVD player somewhere else?? “i want to watch DVDs at my house just like you!” leona you have three entire bedrooms

“rich girl love interest who has everything except love, win her heart by having genuine conversation with her”: done to death, tired, i don’t have time for that

“rich girl love interest who has everything except a fucking DVD player, win her heart by giving her expensive stuff and ‘relax tea’ and access to your DVD player”: audacious, intriguing, never been done before, innovative

if you deny her god-given right to access your DVD player she is like “Is that so……………Just let me be alone for a little bit.” incredible tragedy i understand. take as much time as you need to grieve darling

oh but her first heart event asks you to pick a side in an argument she’s having with panama and the correct answer is to say “sebastian is the one who’s wrong” (sebastian has said nothing wrong this whole time and yet both of them have just been yelling at him to shut up)

and her blue heart event is “help me find this heirloom necklace… boohoo…” and when you find it she’s like “perfect! now grandma won’t get mad at me. hmm, you seem pretty dependable…♡” augh she’s way too good at this…….!!! i’ll do anything for you!

when you propose she says “of course, i always dreamed of having a romance and a wedding♡” and says nothing abt how she feels about you <3

also if you marry her, once a week she goes to hang out at her ex love interest’s place for 6 hours straight and comes home saying “whew… i had so much fun that i must have lost track of time… i’ll hurry on home”

if you marry another girl she starts flirting with you like “I’m so envious of your wife, having such a fine husband… Pete.” (or whatever your name is)

i’ve become obsessed with her and romeo’s horrible trainwreck soap opera marriage since replaying cute in jp… it’s SO… i have so much to say about them that it should be its own post but i’ll just give the cliffnotes

shotgun wedding vibes. romeo is surprised by his own wedding. they’re childhood friends but he himself has never considered marrying her. her words to him at their wedding are “Make me happy♡” (command)

she understandably can’t stand his terrible table manners or his clothes or anything about him (except that she wants to watch him surf and have his child. but he instead walks in circles all day. coward) and he’s both really good at accidentally stepping on landmines and just ever so slightly majorly terrified of her after marriage (“but surely her angry outbursts are just her way of showing love hahahahaha” you’re going to die. she’s going to kill you). the only positive things they say about their marriage are extremely shallow. they can’t communicate with each other because romeo always says the Dumbest Shit obliviously and leona always responds by cutting him out of her life forever!!!!!! (for 5 seconds) while he has no idea what happened

they are both so melodramatic and they both just do nothing except make each other worse and run away from each other and push each other away but they can’t escape each other. neither of them ever has to grow or change if they marry each other because an elderly overworked man is sustaining both of their existences and neither of them can take care of themselves and i love them your honor

also romeo’s first crush as a kid was apparently her mom, and if leona falls for YOU she flirts by mentioning that sebastian says you look like the spitting image of her dead father. dear fucking god

they’re the epitome of “You're both just enabling each other's mental illnesses. You're both perfect for each other. Never change. Just never involve anybody else in what you've got going on.”

romeo really does feel like her stupid lackey. like the karen to her regina. they even had this dynamic in the games they played as kids… she was the Harvest Goddess and he was Servant A/Minion A (they might still be playing this game as adults…he calls her lady/mistress sometimes after marriage…)

btw leona’s best friend (wife) marivia is also just as… there’s an event where they just gossip about all the mineral town ppl and marivia says ann would win a gluttony contest and they both giggle

there’s also an event where marivia casually walks into Witch’s hut and just interviews her so she can write her into a novel. witch is left completely drained by this exchange. leona and marivia both are so chill about the horrible cruel villainess living in leona’s shed who wants the town poisoned and rewards you for killing animals and hurting yourself and is putting curses on everyone (and they’re right. she’s never done anything wrong in her life)

[molinaskies]

Hello, on your recommendation (I think) I watched Sonic X in Japanese for the first time at the start of the year, I was also watching it in the English dub at the same time to see how different they were and oh my god, all the changes they did, the censoring, cutting out scenes (Chris' flashback hello???), not using the original soundtrack, like eggman's theme, come on. But one scene (of many) I was so disappointed about was when Amy gets kidnapped, and they cut out the little scene where she is telling Lily (the flicky) about telepathy and how when someone really cares about you they'll know how you feel, and they actually show that Sonic could hear Amy calling for him, but it was cut out in the dub!!

But besides this rant, I wanted to know you're opinion on the song used in episode 52 for the sonamy reunion. As I understand it, Natsu No Hi played in the Japanese version when it originally aired, but then they changed it to Hikaru Michi for copyright reasons. I've looked the lyrics up for both songs and although Natsu No Hi makes more sense for sonamy, I got accustomed to hearing Hikaru Michi because of the 2nd ending for the series, and with the whole clip of Sonic walking towards Amy in that same ending. I guess I was just wondering which song you liked better and if you think, there's anything in the song Hikaru Michi that could resemble sonamy?

Japanese sonic x supremacy

Haha, for real, I hope you enjoyed the original experience! For anyone who either knows the language or can manage subtitles, please—I am begging on my knees—watch the original Japanese Dub of Sonic X. I don’t care if you watched the English version and love it. I don’t care if you watched the English version and hate it. I don’t care if you are Chris Thorndyke’s biggest opp. Please watch it. It is 100% a different show and 1000% worth your time!!

As for the song, Hikaru Michi (The Shining Road) is very, very, very, very, very important to me. It is probably the quintessential sonamy song for me, and very fitting for their dynamic in the show. Sonic and Amy’s relationship (the true depths of it) has always been subtle. There’s always been another layer to their chase, and more and more recently those layers have been starting to merge in media. However, in Sonic X, their relationship is very “secret”, so I think the idea of the two of them sneaking off for occasional alone time or stolen moments, as the song implies, makes sense.

Not to mention, the song’s overall use in the show is phenomenal. It’s an emotional whammy… and it’s for that reason that I think I prefer Natsu no Hi for ep 52. While Hikaru Michi is very sonamy coded, Natsu no Hi is different and stands out at a time when it really needs to for the narrative!

[fallbabylon]

A Tengu guards the entrance of a Yokai exhibition of historical Japanese Art- Bologna, Italy.

[books-and-strawberry-tea]

Books I always forget about cause they are on my kindle:

Am I the only one like this? I always forget what I have when its a digital collection. I've been collecting since I bought my kindle. I read heaps on my kindle. But I just keep adding more and more to my collection. So here's a list of books a want to read that's on there. If anyone has any feed back or recommendations about my list, please leave a comment! Also if you decide to look into the books on this list, be aware some are 18+ and have TW.

Vampires: Hollow - Legend (Series) Tethered (series) Court (started) The southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires (Started) Twilight (series) Court of the vampire queen (40%) From blood and ash Bitten and bound Vampire academy Die for you (aus) The vampire in the bookstore Bound to the vampires Empire of the vampire - Empire of the damned (series) Feathers so vicious (series) House of crimson hearts Shade of a blood moon blood oath - shadow heart - twisted soul (series)

Manga: Somethings wrong with us (Manga) Say i love you (Manga)

Contemporary/contemporary romance/dark romance ect: Den of vipers The predator The ritual Things we never got over The virgin suicides Ninth house - Hell bent (series) God of Malice Hate mail Hate (JAMES) Bridget jones diary Hunting adeline (Started) Kiss the sky The seven husbands of evelyn hugo Moments of mayhem Lights out Mine (AK ROSE) Falling leaves Twisted friction Saint - sinner - priest - midnight mass (series) Love of my after life Theif (MASSERY)

Fantasy/fantsy romance: The spell shop Yumi and the nightmare painter Gideon the ninth Kingdom of blood and betrayal (35%) - A kingdom of venom and vows (series) Heir of the beast (series) Whispers of the deep The crimson moth The orchid and the owl (started) The song of the marked A court of silver flames (started) Half a soul (series) The god and the gumiho A discovery of witches Psycho fae - psycho shifters - (series) Daughter of the moon goddess (30%) - Heart of the sun warrior Powerless The liars crown Forged by malice - bonded by thorns - Woven by gold (series) Heaven officials blessings The dragons bride Dark heir - dark rise (series) Legends and lattes Lightlark - Nightbane (ugh) The very secret society of irregular witches One dark window - two twisted crowns (series) The invisible life of addie larue One little nightmare Daughter of no worlds The unmaking of June farrow Feather so black Songbird of the sorrows What is dark within me (series) A dream so wicked - Sleeping beauty retelling Of darkness and ruination

Ghosty/Hauntings/Spirits/Halloweenie ect: When stars come out Black silk and Sympathy (Aus) Love letters to a serial killer Good girl bad blood (started) - as good as dead (series) House of hollow Chlorine Carving for cara Her soul to take (series) A soul to keep The curse of the flores women The haunting of blackwych grange Leather and lark Starling House A deadly education Spells for forgetting Rouge In the clearing (aus) In a dark mirror Creations captive

Japanese stories: 夏物語 (Breasts and Eggs JP ver) The full moon coffee shop If cats disappeared from the world (ENG/JP) Conveniance store woman Butter コーヒーが冷めないうちに - 川口 俊和 Days at the morisaki bookshop (series)

[voidvisionsai]

Asking AI to create the Yurei ghost

[spitblaze]

weirdos on Twitter loooove to assume that for any given localization job that the original Japanese is INHERENTLY better, as if one of the most common goals in localization isn't 'turn dogwater writing into something interesting'

[kowai-araene]

Kwaidan (1964) by Masaki Kobayashi - 3h3m

☆this is an anthology who adapts four famous folk tales of japanese ghost stories in beautiful and original cinematography☆

[horygory]

Junji Ito: Korekushon AKA Junji Ito Collection (2018)

[pistakkyo]

Working on drawtober... just a bit late, nothing major,..