Kwaidan

 

I read the story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi. I would really love to read the rest of Kwaidan in my free time because each and every one of them would make for excellent illustrations. Each story I read was so dense and interestingly cultural, they are super inspiring for creativity. For example, when Hoichi plays the song of the battle of the Dan-no-ura on his biwa it says "even the goblins could not refrain from tears." How awesome of a spot illustration would that be? Goblins tearing up at a Japanese man playing this instrument and singing.

Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi super fun to read. When Hoichi meets up with the samurai and he takes him to recite the battle again and it actually describes what Hoichi is saying is amazing, the descriptive words are great, it makes me wish people of our time told stories this way. The fact that Hoichi is blind also adds to his artistry and how amazing it is that he can recount these stories with such vivid words. I also enjoyed the moment when the story reveals that he has been playing in a cemetery for the dead is because before that we really didn't know where he was and who he was singing for. 

The priests tell Hoichi that he will be torn to pieces unless they strip his body and write holy text all over him and he must not budge when he is called to go to the cemetery that night-great imagery. My favorite part of J Horror is the gore and how abruptly the gore seems to appear in the story, like when the priests forgot to write on Hoichi's ears and they get ripped off.