# Japanese Ghost Stories - Paperback

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by **Lafcadio Hearn** (Author), **Paul Murray** (Editor), **Paul Murray** (Introduction by)

**Brilliantly entertaining and eerie ghost stories, regarded as major classics in Japan, by the Irish writer and Japanophile Lafcadio Hearn--whose life inspired bestselling writer Monique Truong's novel _The Sweetest Fruits_  
**  
**A Penguin Classic  
**  
In this collection of classic ghost stories from Japan, beautiful princesses turn out to be frogs, paintings come alive, deadly spectral brides haunt the living, and a samurai delivers the baby of a Shinto goddess with mystical help. Here are all the phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folklore: "rokuro-kubi," whose heads separate from their bodies at night; "jikininki," or flesh-eating goblins; and terrifying faceless "mujina" who haunt lonely neighborhoods. Lafcadio Hearn, a master storyteller, drew on traditional Japanese folklore, infused with memories of his own haunted childhood in Ireland, to create the chilling tales in _Japanese Ghost Stories_. They are today regarded in Japan as classics in their own right.

### Author Biography

The improbable life story of **Lafcadio Hearn** (1850-1904) included a peculiarly gothic childhood in Ireland during which he was successively abandoned by his mother, his father and his guardian; two decades in New Orleans, where he worked as a journalist and was sacked for marrying a former slave; and a long period in Japan, where he became a Buddhist, married a Japanese woman and wrote about ju-jitsu and Japanese aesthetics for a Western readership. His ghost stories, which were drawn from Japanese folklore, appeared in collections throughout the 1890s. He is a much celebrated figure in Japan.

**Paul Murray** (editor/introducer) is the author of biographies of Lafcadio Hearn and Bram Stoker, and the editor of collections of Hearn's work. He is a former Irish diplomat whose posting to Japan in the late 1970s first ignited his interest in Hearn.

**Number of Pages:** 272

**Dimensions:** 0.7 x 7.7 x 5 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** September 24, 2019

## Details

- **Price:** 24.0 GBP
- **Vendor:** BooksCloud
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books, Fiction, Horror, Occult & Supernatural, Price Written on Book, Supernatural, Thrillers

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 24.00 GBP | In stock |

## Images

- Japanese Ghost Stories

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> Updated: 2026-08-22