Kwaidan
When I had organized a shelf, I found the DVD 'Kwaidan'. Kwaidan (Kaidan) are Japanese horror/ ghost stories which are connected to old Japanese folktale. If you say 'Kwaidan', some of the famous stories such as 'Hoichi the earless' and 'Oiwa-san' pop up in my mind.
Basically I don't like horror stories at all. But summer is the season of horror stories in my country. Why? I don't know the true reason, but a scary story is enough to chill yourself out during a hot summer. And in conjunction with Obon season in August (a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of ancestors), it gives colour to ghost stories.
I'll tell you about a bit of story 'Hoichi the earless'. According to legend, Hoichi was a blind minstrel who lived at a temple with a kind priest. He was particularly good at playing biwa (a sort of Japanese lute) and performing the Tale of the Heike (an epic historic story of the war between two clans for control of Japan). One night, a samurai approached him to ask the play for his lord. Then the samurai led Hoichi to the nobleman and he performed for him.
The following evening, the samurai returned to Hoichi, and led him back to the nobleman. But the priest noticed Hoichi's mysterious absence, he led other monks to chase Hoichi next night. What they found was that Hoichi was playing biwa in the middle of the cemetery. They dragged him back to the temple, and Hoichi explained the events to the priest.
The priest realised that Hoichi had been bewitched by ghosts. To protect Hoichi, the priest painted his body with kanji characters of the Heart Sutra and told him to remain silent and motionless when the samurai appears at night. The sutra had rendered the Hoichi's body invisible. The ghost samurai appeared and was angered that there was no Hoichi's appearance nor response. But the ghost could only see his ears, because the priest had forgot to paint his ears. And then the samurai ripped his ears off...
When I was young, we visited my cousin's house during the summer. Their house is an old huge farm house. What we played at night was 'visiting a haunted room'. Actually it wasn't haunted, but was a disused room. My cousin who had a long hair was dressed as a ghost and hid in the dark room. And then my sister and I walked through the room with a torch. We romped and yelled. It was scary enough for me but fun. This is one of my memories during summer.
Basically I don't like horror stories at all. But summer is the season of horror stories in my country. Why? I don't know the true reason, but a scary story is enough to chill yourself out during a hot summer. And in conjunction with Obon season in August (a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of ancestors), it gives colour to ghost stories.
I'll tell you about a bit of story 'Hoichi the earless'. According to legend, Hoichi was a blind minstrel who lived at a temple with a kind priest. He was particularly good at playing biwa (a sort of Japanese lute) and performing the Tale of the Heike (an epic historic story of the war between two clans for control of Japan). One night, a samurai approached him to ask the play for his lord. Then the samurai led Hoichi to the nobleman and he performed for him.
The following evening, the samurai returned to Hoichi, and led him back to the nobleman. But the priest noticed Hoichi's mysterious absence, he led other monks to chase Hoichi next night. What they found was that Hoichi was playing biwa in the middle of the cemetery. They dragged him back to the temple, and Hoichi explained the events to the priest.
The priest realised that Hoichi had been bewitched by ghosts. To protect Hoichi, the priest painted his body with kanji characters of the Heart Sutra and told him to remain silent and motionless when the samurai appears at night. The sutra had rendered the Hoichi's body invisible. The ghost samurai appeared and was angered that there was no Hoichi's appearance nor response. But the ghost could only see his ears, because the priest had forgot to paint his ears. And then the samurai ripped his ears off...
When I was young, we visited my cousin's house during the summer. Their house is an old huge farm house. What we played at night was 'visiting a haunted room'. Actually it wasn't haunted, but was a disused room. My cousin who had a long hair was dressed as a ghost and hid in the dark room. And then my sister and I walked through the room with a torch. We romped and yelled. It was scary enough for me but fun. This is one of my memories during summer.
