Japan Book Review: The Snow Woman and Other Yokai Stories from Japan
by Noboru Wada
ISBN: 978-4-8053-1758-7
Tuttle Publishing, 2024, 2019
286 pp; paperback
If you are familiar with the words kappa, yamamba, enma and yurei you will likely enjoy Noboru Wada's 2004 The Snow Woman. If not, well, you may enjoy this book anyway, especially if you know just the word yokai. Yokai are Japanese ghosts, goblins or other supernatural beings. They can appear in many forms, including animal-like figures, humanoids or, sometimes, inanimate objects. They can quickly change form and are associated with supernatural phenomena and/or feelings of agitation or trepidation.
This book is a collection of 77 traditional short yokai stories, mostly from the old Japanese province of Shinano, now called Nagano Prefecture. The purpose of most of the stories seem to be to entertain or maybe perplex readers, although some of the stories have clear, moral teachings like Aesop's Fables.
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The Snow Woman and Other Yokai Stories from Japan |
Don't worry if your yokai vocabulary is lacking - there is a handy glossary at the beginning of the book explaining 27 yokai-related words. If you still don't understand the concept of Yokai, the closest Western equivalent might be of well-told, scary campfire stories. Bring your own s'mores.
While the vast majority of stories deal with old, traditional yokai at some level, a few of the stories seem completely unrelated. For example, there is a story about World War II beheadings which is more macabre than yokai.
Another story also references World War II. Some stories have interesting names, i.e., "The Smelly Priest and the Yamamba" and "The Man Who Could Drink Two Quarts of Soy Sauce." Upon finishing a few of the stories, some readers may mumble, "What the heck was that all about?"
Most of the stories are one to three pages, and only a few stretch to as long as five pages, so if you aren't enjoying a particular story you needn't worry as it will conclude soon. There are also about 25 full-page illustrations which are entertaining.
There is a story that alludes to "ghosts who would stroke people's buttocks," but readers end up having to be satisfied with a story of a ghost who stroked people's faces. Oh, well.
People of all ages can enjoy this book, and no real special knowledge of Japan is needed.
Don't be an onibaba, go out a get a copy of this book.
Review by Marshall Hughes, author of Rural Reflections.
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