In Ghostly Japan

About this book

A priest listens to a story that unsettles his understanding of karma. Funeral customs, Buddhist images and tales of restless spirits fill the spaces between observations of Japanese daily life.

Lafcadio Hearn writes with close attention to sound, ritual and the weight of local belief. This collection moves between supernatural narratives, meditations on religion and glimpses of a society changing around him. His finest passages let a small incident reveal an entire way of seeing the world. A bell, a grave or a remembered name can become the beginning of something uncanny.