Kaidan
Encyclopedia
Kaidan (sometimes transliterated kwaidan) is a Japanese
word consisting of two kanji
: 怪 (kai) meaning “strange, mysterious, rare or bewitching apparition" and 談 (dan) meaning “talk” or “recited narrative.”
or horror story
, but it has an old-fashioned ring to it that carries the connotation of Edo period
Japan
ese folktales. Kaidan may have been influenced by its Chinese counterpart, a collection of ghost stories known as Liaozhai zhiyi 聊斋志异, or more popularly known as Liaozhai 聊斋.
The term is no longer as widely used in Japanese as it once was: Japanese horror books and films such as Ju-on
and Ring
would more likely be labeled by the katakana
or the standard Japanese . Kaidan is only used if the author/director wishes to specifically bring an old-fashioned air into the story.
during the Edo period
, when a game called Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai
became popular. This game led to a demand for ghost stories
and folktales to be gathered from all parts of Japan
and China
.
The popularity of the game, as well as the acquisition of a printing press
, led to the creation of a literary genre called Kaidanshu.
Kaidanshu were originally based on older Buddhist
stories of a didactic nature, although the moral lessons soon gave way to the demand for strange and gruesome stories.
by Lafcadio Hearn
in his book
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
. The spelling kwaidan is a romanization
based on an archaic spelling of the word in kana
- Hearn used it since the stories in the book were equally archaic. The revised Hepburn romanization
system is spelled kaidan.
When film director Masaki Kobayashi made his portmanteau
film Kwaidan
(1964) from Hearn's translated tales, the old spelling was used in the English
title.
, and especially ghostly vengeance
for misdeeds. Japanese vengeful ghosts are far more powerful after death than they were in life, and are often people who were particularly powerless in life, such as women and servants.
This vengeance is usually specifically targeted against the tormentor, but can sometimes be a general hatred toward all living humans. This untargeted wrath can be seen in Furisode, a story in Hearn's book In Ghostly Japan about a cursed kimono
that kills everyone who wears it. This motif is repeated in the film Ring
with a videotape that kills all who watch it, and the film Ju-on
with a house that kills all who enter it.
Kaidan also frequently involve water as a ghostly element. In Japanese religion, water is a pathway to the underworld
as can be seen in the festival of Obon
.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
word consisting of two kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
: 怪 (kai) meaning “strange, mysterious, rare or bewitching apparition" and 談 (dan) meaning “talk” or “recited narrative.”
Overall meaning and usage
In its broadest sense, kaidan refers to any ghostGhost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
or horror story
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
, but it has an old-fashioned ring to it that carries the connotation of Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese folktales. Kaidan may have been influenced by its Chinese counterpart, a collection of ghost stories known as Liaozhai zhiyi 聊斋志异, or more popularly known as Liaozhai 聊斋.
The term is no longer as widely used in Japanese as it once was: Japanese horror books and films such as Ju-on
Ju-on
is the title of a series of horror films by Japanese director Takashi Shimizu. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Kurosawa helped Shimizu shepherd the Ju-on projects to fruition.-History:...
and Ring
Ring (film)
is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family...
would more likely be labeled by the katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
or the standard Japanese . Kaidan is only used if the author/director wishes to specifically bring an old-fashioned air into the story.
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai and Kaidanshu
Kaidan entered the vernacularVernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
during the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, when a game called Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai
was a popular parlour game during the Edo period in Japan.The game was a simple one. In a room, as night fell, one hundred candles were lit. Guests and players gathered around the candles, taking turns telling kaidan. After each kaidan, a single candle was extinguished, and the room slowly grew...
became popular. This game led to a demand for ghost stories
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
and folktales to be gathered from all parts of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
The popularity of the game, as well as the acquisition of a printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
, led to the creation of a literary genre called Kaidanshu.
Kaidanshu were originally based on older Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
stories of a didactic nature, although the moral lessons soon gave way to the demand for strange and gruesome stories.
Examples of Kaidanshu
- Tonoigusa, called Otogi Monogatari (Nursery Tales) by Ogita Ansei (1660)
- Otogi Boko (Handpuppets) by Asai Ryoi (1666)
- Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) by Ueda AkinariUeda AkinariUeda Akinari or Ueda Shūsei was a Japanese author, scholar and waka poet, and a prominent literary figure in 18th century Japan...
(1776)
Examples of Kaidan
- Banchō SarayashikiBancho Sarayashikiis a Japanese ghost story of love separated by social class, broken trust and broken promises, leading to a dismal fate.The story of Okiku and the Nine Plates is one of the most famous in Japanese folklore, and continues to resonate with audiences today....
(The Story of Okiku) by Okamoto KidoOkamoto Kidowas a Japanese author. His real name was . His best known work is the Shin Kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki.- External links :* at Aozora bunko- References :... - Yotsuya KaidanYotsuya KaidanYotsuya Kaidan , 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...
(Ghost Story of Tōkaidō Yotsuya) by Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755–1829) - Botan DōrōBotan DoroBotan Dōrō is a Japanese ghost story that is both romantic and horrific. It involves sex with the dead and the consequences of loving a ghost.It is sometimes known as Kaidan Botan Dōrō, based on the kabuki version of the story...
(The Peony Lantern) by Asai Ryoi - Mimi-nashi HōichiHoichi the Earlessis a character from Japanese mythology. His story is well known in Japan, and the best-known English translation first appeared in the book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn....
(Hōichi the Earless)
Background of the romanized translation
The word was popularised in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
in his book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
, often shortened to Kwaidan, is a book by Lafcadio Hearn that features several Japanese ghost stories and a brief non-fiction study on insects...
. The spelling kwaidan is a romanization
Romanization of Japanese
The romanization of Japanese is the application of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is known as , less strictly romaji, literally "Roman letters", sometimes incorrectly transliterated as romanji or rōmanji. There are several different romanization systems...
based on an archaic spelling of the word in kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
- Hearn used it since the stories in the book were equally archaic. The revised Hepburn romanization
Hepburn romanization
The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885...
system is spelled kaidan.
When film director Masaki Kobayashi made his portmanteau
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
film Kwaidan
Kwaidan (film)
is a 1964 Japanese portmanteau film directed by Masaki Kobayashi; the title means 'ghost story'. It is based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folk tales. The film consists of four separate and unrelated stories. Kwaidan is the archaic transliteration of Kaidan, meaning...
(1964) from Hearn's translated tales, the old spelling was used in the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
title.
Plot elements
Originally based on didactic Buddhist tales, kaidan often involve elements of karmaKarma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
, and especially ghostly vengeance
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
for misdeeds. Japanese vengeful ghosts are far more powerful after death than they were in life, and are often people who were particularly powerless in life, such as women and servants.
This vengeance is usually specifically targeted against the tormentor, but can sometimes be a general hatred toward all living humans. This untargeted wrath can be seen in Furisode, a story in Hearn's book In Ghostly Japan about a cursed kimono
Kimono
The is a Japanese traditional garment worn by men, women and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
that kills everyone who wears it. This motif is repeated in the film Ring
Ring (film)
is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family...
with a videotape that kills all who watch it, and the film Ju-on
Ju-on
is the title of a series of horror films by Japanese director Takashi Shimizu. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Kurosawa helped Shimizu shepherd the Ju-on projects to fruition.-History:...
with a house that kills all who enter it.
Kaidan also frequently involve water as a ghostly element. In Japanese religion, water is a pathway to the underworld
Yomi
, the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits; according to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to dwell and apparently rot indefinitely. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living...
as can be seen in the festival of Obon
Obón
Obón is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 75 inhabitants....
.
Films
- KwaidanKwaidan (film)is a 1964 Japanese portmanteau film directed by Masaki Kobayashi; the title means 'ghost story'. It is based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folk tales. The film consists of four separate and unrelated stories. Kwaidan is the archaic transliteration of Kaidan, meaning...
(Masaki Kobayashi, 1964) - Hideo Nakata's KaidanHideo Nakata's Kaidanis a 2007 Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata. The title means 'ghost story'. The screenplay for this film was written by Satoko Okudera, based on the kaidan-banashi "Shinkei Kasanegafuchi" by Enchou Sanyutei....
(2007)
See also
- Japanese mythologyJapanese mythologyJapanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...
- J-HorrorJ-HorrorJapanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
- Lafcadio HearnLafcadio HearnPatrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
- ObakeObakeand are a class of yōkai, preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore. Literally, the terms mean a thing that changes, referring to a state of transformation or shapeshifting....
- YōkaiYōkaiare a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...
- YūreiYureiare figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 , meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 , meaning "soul" or "spirit." Alternative names include 亡霊 meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 or お化け...
- Glen GrantGlen GrantGlen Grant was a Hawaiian historian, author and folklorist. He was primarily known for his Obake Files, a collection of articles and stories regarding native and imported folktales and mythology in Hawaii...
- Shigeru MizukiShigeru Mizukiis a Japanese manga author, most known for his Japanese horror manga GeGeGe no Kitaro . A specialist in stories of yōkai, he is considered a master of the genre...
- Gakkō no KaidanGakko no Kaidanis the first of a series of Japanese horror movies based in the book series created by Toru Tsunemitsu. Unlike most horror flicks, this movie was intended to receive a family-friendly rating by Japanese standards.-Plot:...
- School ghost stories
External links
- Ghoul Power - Onryou in the Movies Japanzine By Jon Wilks
- Tales of Ghostly Japan Japanzine By Zack Davisson
- Japanese Ghosts Mangajin #40 by Tim Screech
- Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.
- A site with several kaidan.
- Asian Folklore Studies: The Appeal of Kaidan Tales of the Strange.
- Information on The Kaidan Suite, a musical interpretation of kaidan by the Kitsune Ensemble.
- Hyakumonogatari.com A website of translated kaidan