由Misaki Imagawa
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Edo, Japan. The year was 1749. It was the 15th night of the 7th month, the start of the annual Bon Festival, a celebration honoring the dead. On the edge of town, where the merriments of the festival were subdued, a group of samurai gathered at an old mansion. In the main hall they waited for the darkest hours of the night and lit one hundred candles in a circle. Then, one by one they began to tell tales of ghostly apparitions and demonic encounters they had heard on their travels – scorned lovers returning from the dead for vengeance; flesh-eating ghosts preying on infants; travelers lured to graveyards and discovered dead in the embrace of skeletons; entire villages haunted by the moans and wails of spirits passing on their way to hell. With each story, the narrator blew out a candle, one after another, until there was only one left flickering in the oppressive darkness.
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现在，武士几乎看不到对方，在空气静止的情况下，可以听到地板的吱吱作响的声音。然后，声音悄悄地说话，刺穿了黑暗。房间却静止不动。“很久以前，有一位名叫Okiku的美丽女仆Okiku，他为一位不道德的主工作。他对她取得了许多进步，但她不断地拒绝了他。藏在他的房间里。当发现只有九个盘子时，Okiku赶到了储藏室，因为她有责任保护宝藏。，九...'她数了；当她找不到第十位时，她很惊慌。她一次又一次地数，搜寻了房间高低，但找不到丢失的盘子。
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“在绝望中，奥基库告诉局势。Okiku的恐惧低低，但愤怒地摇了摇头，耶和华撞倒了她，将她勒死了。一直忘记了Okiku，直到一个无月的夜晚，当他漫步在花园里时，他听到了声音。”一，两个，三，四，'它数了。六个，七，八。他吓了一跳，匆匆回到房子里，没有意识到自己在井附近经过。“九……”耳塞的尖叫声响起 - 抬起头发和寒冷。在井中，一只幽灵般的手穿过木板，Okiku的脸出现了，不再漂亮，而是haggard和腐烂的。，五个，六，七，八，九……'在朗诵最后一个数字之后，剩下的蜡烛熄灭了。聚集在一起的武士紧张地在黑暗中屏住呼吸。
A few coughs broke the silence, until finally one of the samurai said, "That was a good tale. Who told it?" But no reply was forthcoming… because none of them had.
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Japan is a land immersed in tales of spirits, ghosts, demons and hundreds of other supernatural creatures both benign and malevolent. Stemming from folk religions, Buddhism, stories from neighboring countries, as well as personal experiences of unexplainable mystery, these mythical creatures have been a part of the culture for centuries. They became particularly popular during the Edo Period (1603 - 1868) when a pastime calledHyakumonogatari Kaidankai通过贵族武士班传播。意思是“一百个幽灵叙事的聚会”；晚上，蜡烛的光线告诉故事。只是聆听被认为是对勇气的真实考验，因为火焰被一个人扑灭，好像是逐渐唤起死者。这个“游戏”很快就传播到了所有班级，不久之后，幽灵故事的藏品印在书中，引起了剧作家和伍德布洛克艺术家的兴趣。
Ghosts (尤雷) and demons (Yokai）quickly became a new genre of woodblock prints. It was traditionally believed in Japan that if a person died a violent death or held strong feelings of anger, revenge, or jealousy, their souls would be turned into a malicious type of yurei calledOnryo。尽管在生活中，他们可能是美丽的或英俊的，但他们的幻影通常被描绘成苍白，毫无生气和被负面情绪所毁容 - 当然，您不会想在黑暗中看到迫在眉睫的东西。你也不想遇到funa yurei, spirits of those who perished at sea. They were said to approach unsuspecting boats and fill them with ladles of water to drag the living into the dark depths of the sea with them.
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Yokai, on the other hand, were more than just ghosts. They were demons causing grim misfortune and curses. Some likeAme Onna被称为“雨巫”，默默地出现，被她带来的痛苦雨水湿透。日本民间传说说，她曾经是一个失去孩子的母亲，因此从婴儿床中偷走了婴儿，从她那里拿走了什么。其他Yokai是更多的神话生物Oniandtengu。Oni是可怕的怪物,可以在通过盛宴sh among their many other unattractive traits. In the Kabuki play "Momijigari," an Oni transforms into a princess and tries to deceive a samurai so he can feast on his flesh. Luckily the protagonist, Taira no Koremochi, realizes the trick in time and cuts the beautiful kimono away revealing the Oni's ugly figure. The Tengu is another popular yokai with a prominent beak or long nose, wings and a human body dressed in priestly clothes. However, Tengu are harbingers of ill omen and war. One famous print depicts them mocking and tormenting Hojo Takatoki, a weak-minded and barely sane 14th century warlord whose actions brought about the Nanboku-cho civil war. Were the Tengu to blame for his madness?
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从江户时代到今天，日本对恐怖的热爱一直没有减弱。人们仍然普遍认为，尤里（Yurei）和洋（Yokai）在各处潜伏，等待正确的时机将他们的猛烈手指闭合在猎物上。但是他们真的吗？如果您敢于找出答案，请在这个万圣节这个万圣节聚集在蜡烛灯光周围，然后开始Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai。当最后一支蜡烛被炸毁时……您的答案可能在黑暗中就在您旁边。
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In the Dead of Night - Japanese Ghost and Demon Prints（412 KB）
Japan is a land immersed in tales of ghosts and demons. During the Edo period, scary stories were exchanged first as tests of courage and then as a favorite pastime among all classes. Collections of ghost stories were eventually published in book format and illustrated with woodblock prints, creating a new genre that thrilled, frightened and inspired all at once.
