As is typical for me, October is a busy month with fundraising activities on the job. Therefore, I think I shall post a Halloween-appropriate link. My introduction to the creepy aspects of Japanese legendry was Lafcadio Hearn's 1904 collection Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. The book formed the basis of a 1964 film of the same name directed by Masaki Kobayashi:
My favorite story from Hearn's collection is Mujina, a creepy-yet-funny tale which actually features a Noppera-bō, though a mujina could conceivably pose as such using its supernatural powers.
One of my favorite sites on the t00bz is Yokai.com, a beautifully illustrated collection of the various creepy-crawlies from Japanese folklore. The site was an invaluable resource while I was binge-watching Ghost Sweeper Mikami a few months ago:
There's a manga available for this entertaining-yet-salacious supernatural comedy, but the pop-up ads are a real horror. One of these days, I should post a review of the series... it's fun, but there's some content which in this day, in the 'States, would be considered problematic.
For the record, my favorite Yokai is the Karakasa kozō, or paper umbrella priest boy. Now that is one comical monster.
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