is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

word consisting of two

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

: 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

ghost story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

horror story Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defi ...

, but it has an old-fashioned ring to it that carries the connotation of

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese folktales. The term is no longer as widely used in Japanese as it once was:

Japanese horror Japanese horror, also known as J-horror, is horror fiction derived from popular culture in Japan, generally noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre differing from the traditional Western representation of horr ...

books and films such as ''

Ju-on is a Japanese horror media franchise, franchise created by Takashi Shimizu. The franchise began in 1998 with the release of the short films Katasumi and 4444444444, ''Katasumi'' and ''4444444444''. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, w ...

'' and ''

Ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

'' would more likely be labeled by the ''

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

'' . ''Kaidan'' is only used if the author/director wishes to specifically bring an old-fashioned air into the story.

Examples of ''kaidan''

*''

Banchō Sarayashiki is a Kaidan, Japanese ghost story (kaidan) of broken trust and broken promises, leading to a dismal fate. Alternatively referred to as the tradition, all versions of the tale revolve around a servant, who dies unjustly and returns to haunt t ...

'' (''The Story of Okiku'') by

Okamoto Kido was a Japanese author and playwright. His real name was . His best known work is the Shin Kabuki play '' Bancho Sarayashiki''. Kido was born in the district of Shiba Takanawa, a neighbourhood in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Family Kido's father, , la ...

*''

Yotsuya Kaidan , the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, is a tale of betrayal, murder and onryou, ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Kaidan (parapsychology), Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times and continues to be ...

'' (''Ghost Story of Tōkaidō Yotsuya'') by Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755–1829) *''

Botan Dōrō is a Japanese ghost story () and one of the most famous in Japan. The plot involves sex with the dead and the consequences of loving a ghost. It is sometimes known as , based on the kabuki version of the story; this title is commonly used i ...

'' (''The Peony Lantern'') by Asai Ryoi *'' Mimi-nashi Hōichi'' (''Hōichi the Earless'')

''Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai'' and ''kaidanshu''

''Kaidan'' entered the

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

during the

, when a

parlour game A parlour or parlor game is a group game played indoors, named so as they were often played in a parlour. These games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes in the United Kingdom and in the United States during the Victorian er ...

called ''

Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai was a popular didactic Buddhism, Buddhist-inspired parlour game during the Edo period in Japan. Play The game is played after nightfall in one of two ways. The simplest form involves participants sitting in a circle in a room where 100 Tra ...

'' became popular. This game led to a demand for

ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

and folktales to be gathered from all parts of

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

.The popularity of the game, as well as the acquisition of a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

, led to the creation of a literary genre called ''kaidanshu''. ''Kaidanshu'' were originally based on older

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

stories of a

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...

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 is a collection of nine supernatural tales first published in 1776. It is the best known work of Japanese author Ueda Akinari. Largely adapted from traditional Japanese and Chinese ghost stories, the collection is among the most important w ...

'' (''Tales of Moonlight and Rain'') by

Ueda Akinari was a Japanese author, scholar and '' waka'' poet, and a prominent literary figure in 18th-century Japan. He was an early writer in the '' yomihon'' genre and his two masterpieces, '' Ugetsu Monogatari'' ("Tales of Rain and the Moon") and '' Ha ...

(1776)

Background of the romanized translation

The word was popularised in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Lafcadio Hearn was a Greek-born Irish and Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the Western world. His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collections of legend ...

in his

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

'' Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things''. The spelling ''kwaidan'' is a

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

based on an archaic spelling of the word in

kana are syllabary, syllabaries used to write Japanese phonology, Japanese phonological units, Mora (linguistics), morae. In current usage, ''kana'' most commonly refers to ''hiragana'' and ''katakana''. It can also refer to their ancestor , wh ...

- Hearn used it since the stories in the book were equally archaic. The revised

Hepburn romanization is the main system of Romanization of Japanese, romanization for the Japanese language. The system was originally published in 1867 by American Christian missionary and physician James Curtis Hepburn as the standard in the first edition of h ...

system is spelled kaidan. When film director

Masaki Kobayashi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, best known for the epic trilogy '' The Human Condition'' (1959–1961), the samurai films '' Harakiri'' (1962) and '' Samurai Rebellion'' (1967), and the horror anthology '' Kwaidan'' (1964). ''Sen ...

made his

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

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". Overall meaning and usage In its broadest sense, ''kaidan'' refer ...

'' (1964) from Hearn's translated tales, the old spelling was used in the English title.

Plot elements

Originally based on didactic Buddhist tales, kaidan often involve elements of

karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

, and especially ghostly vengeance for misdeeds. Japanese

vengeful ghost In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial or crem ...

s (''

Onryō In Japanese traditional beliefs and literature, are a type of ghost () believed to be capable of causing harm in the world of the living, injuring or killing enemies, or even causing natural disasters to exact Revenge, vengeance to "redres ...

'') 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 The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

that kills everyone who wears it. This motif is repeated in the film ''

'' with a videotape that kills all who watch it, and the film franchise ''

'' 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 The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

as can be seen in the festival of

Obon or just is a fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ance ...

External links

Ghoul Power - Onryou in the Movies
''Japanzine'' By Jon Wilks
Tales of Ghostly Japan
''Japanzine'' By Zack Davisson

'Mangajin #40'' by Tim Screech
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
TheJapaneseHorror.com
Website with several translated Kaidan {{Authority control Buddhist folklore Japanese folklore * Japanese words and phrases