Hey hey, this is Thersa Matsuura and you’re listening to Uncanny Japan the podcast about the more obscure corners of Japanese culture. Mysterious yōkai, fascinating folktales, endearing superstitions and more.
So it’s almost Halloween and I promised to read Lafcadio Hearn’s Botan Doro, or The Peony Lantern. You’ll remember I talked a bit about last episode when I read my article in Sothybys about Japan’s sandai kaidan, or three great ghost stories.
So here it is. A heads up, though. Of the three stories, the one about Oiwa and Okiku and Otsuyu, today’s story about Otsuyu is the lesser known. Why? Not because it is a lesser story, but because it involves a little, um, necrophilia. Ghostaphila?
Hearn’s words are gorgeous and nuanced and I don’t think young listeners will catch exactly what’s going on, but you might want to give it a listen just in case.
Next
