I loved it. So. Much. It left me with a mountain of new info and a huge list of extra research to do >.> so many books to read, movies to watch, history books to tackle. It’s extremely well-researched, it’s a serious book (some reviews fail to mention it) but written in a casual tone, friendly. What I appreciated the most: the author never treats the readers as if they were stupid, he never treats you like a child (oversimplified examples, language), opposed to what I’ve seen in other books writ...

Beginning with a personal anecdote and leading into the history of the yūrei, this book takes the reader on a well informed journey of an often misunderstood part of Japanese culture from a western point of view. What is a yūrei? How do they differ from the term 'ghost' and, more importantly, how does their place even in modern literature, cinema, and media have such staying power? This book answers it all and opens up new avenues for the reader to explore, should they wish to know more. Recomme...

Recomendadísimo.Reseña completa.

Japón es un país de fantasmas en muchos sentidos, pero este libro, dedicado a los fantasmas que vienen del la Tierra de las Sombras (Yū) o sea, del Más Allá, es uno de los mejores que he leído sobre el tema. El libro registra todo el espectro —nunca mejor dicho— de seres fantasmales del Japón, las obras que les dieron origen, las costumbres y leyendas al respecto pero muy a fondo. La obra es entretenida a rabiar y sus destellos antropológicos nos ayudan a descubrir a través de sus fantasmas, muc...

This is a an excellent little book that gives a quick, but detailed overview of Yūrei and some other Japanese folklore. I especially loved the art. Several full color paintings add a lot of depth to the specific legends. Davisson also references tons of other books and collections of short stories which I'm hoping to eventually read as well. For a short book, I got a lot out of it. If I have any criticism, it's that the author occasionally assumes that the reader knows more than they probably do...

This tows the line between overly-scholarly and readable, and is clearly a product of much research and love. The design of the book is also beautiful, but sadly a small number of typographic errors mar the text which I found a bit distracting - most of these are simple typos or missing full stops, but the quote that opens chapter 12 appears to have been mixed up with the first paragraph. Unless the translation of a text from the 1700s happens to mention the film of said text?Anyway, it's a supe...

A comprehensive look at the Japanese yurei, or ghost. Beginning with a personal experience and ending with a collection of kaidanshu, or ghost stories featuring the various kinds of yurei, Zack Davisson explores the history of Japanese concepts of life, death, and the afterlife from the earliest era to the modern age, including the many changes wrought by the introduction of Buddhism to the Land of the Rising Sun. He discusses the rise of kaidanshu and how these stories were portrayed in kabuki

As Lafcadio Hearn said, to understand yūrei and the Rule of the Dead — to understand the obligations of birth and death — is to understand much of Japan. To anyone who has lived there, many of Japan’s customs and cultures, rituals and festivals, are incomprehensible without the missing puzzle piece that is the yūrei. Why do people put red hats and scarves on small statues of Jizō? Yūrei. Why do they take time off work in the summer to clean the family graves and put candles in the window? Yūrei....

(English below)Japón y el mundo sobrenatural, dos temas que me encantan, así que no podía dejar de leer este libro. Pero como siempre llegamos al problema de la expectativas, que suelen ser defraudadas. Pero no ocurre así en esta obra.Este trabajo es una pequeña joya, con una tarea de documentación detrás que presumo titánica. Pero no sólo de documentación vive un libro. Si luego los contenidos no están bien organizados y la explicación es densa, la lectura puede ser insufrible. Pero Davisson sa...

Este es un libro interesante que explica la relación entre los fantasmas y la cultura japonesa. Con esto pude entender algunas referencias de películas más actuales (como El Aro) y aprender más sobre el teatro kabuki y la influencia del budismo en la percepción de lo sobrenatural en Japón.

I enjoyed the book in general - if you are an enthusiast or a student of Japanese culture and want more information and insight into yurei. Many other people have already hit on what makes this book enjoyable and why you SHOULD read it if you are interested in the literary history and cultural relevance of the Japanese ghost. Other than a few minor quibbles, I really only had one issue with the book, mentioned below. While reading Chapter 7 (Ghosts of Hate), I stumbled across an apparent plagiar...

Yurei: The Japanese Ghost was an insightful read for the history of a cultural cornerstone in Japan. Going into Yurei I really had no expectations at to what Mr. Davisson would present so I was delightfully surprised to find all the history and facts in an easy to read and understand format. With the nice breakdown I was never confused about the different type of Yurei despite a vast array of different categories of Yurei. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Davisson a couple years ago at a Japanese

BOM DEMAISUma das melhores "introduções" a esse assunto que eu podia querer, se não a melhorEnsina muito sobre história, cultura, literatura, religião, espiritualidade, teatro, festivais e tudo que você puder querer saber sobre os yureis do Japão, inclusive com um anexo maravilhoso de vários kaidans. Depois faço uma resenha melhor, mas acho que minha única crítica é o famoso "podia ter sido mais longo", mas o livro é bem denso...

A fun read for the long nights (because a normal sleep cycle is now but a distant memory). The author writes with enthusiasm and recaps the general taxonomy of the 幽霊, outlining how exactly they differ from Western spirits. However, he really only talks about the three greatest (female) Yurei, excluding all other related monsters and demons, which I thought would have been good companion pieces (I've been haunted by images of the long-necked demons, Rokurokubi, since I was a child). Each entry i...

El autor de este libro hace una revisión bibliográfica de los fantasmas en Japón, incluyendo libros como Heike Monogatari, La historia de Genji, obras de Lafcadio Hearn, así como pinturas y películas. Nos habla de la importancia de los ancestros en la era Edo, nos explica porque los fantasmas son representados sin pies, vestidos de blanco y con una larga cabellera. Incluye ilustraciones (pocas para el precio del libro) y al final algunos relatos de fantasmas. Es un buen libro pero sus 200 página...

3.5⭐️

I realized I hadn't read much nonfiction this spooky season, and this book caught my eye. Like most westerners, my primary exposure to yurei is through Japanese horror movies, like Ringu, Ju-On, One Missed Call, etc., so I thought it would be interesting to learn something more about the history of these sorts of iconic spirits. I wasn't disappointed.While Yurei focuses primarily on three specific spirits from Japanese folklore: Oiwa, Okiku, and Otsuyu, the examination of each one is thorough, a...

A fascinating book that goes into the history of Japanese ghosts and how that history affected Japanese society from early times onward. The attention paid toward the dead, the rituals revolving around the dead and the Yasakuni shrine are all tied in together. Some of the points that I found particular interesting include:The author discusses the types of obligation in Japan and notes that since a person gives birth to another then they are obligated to take care of them after their death. They

Interesting, fast read that's well-written and researched. This one is worth reading on a Kindle Fire (or color monitor) to get the most out of the included art examples.

I've lived in Japan for several years and know a bit about Japanese customs and culture, but this book opened up my eyes to the history and folklore that influenced much of Japanese culture as it exists today. I'm no stranger to Japanese folklore, and yet after reading this book I realized that my self education in Japanese myth and mythology had several large gaps. I was already familiar with Okiku, one of the three great ghosts of Japan, but the stories of Oiwa and Oyutsu had eluded me until n...