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Understanding 9/11Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
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Librivox recording of Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn.
Read by LibriVox Volunteers.
Most of the following Kwaidan, or Weird Tales, have been taken from old Japanese books,— such as the Yaso-Kidan, Bukkyo-Hyakkwa-Zensho, Kokon-Chomonshu, Tama-Sudare, and Hyaku-Monogatari. Some of the stories may have had a Chinese origin: the very remarkable "Dream of Akinosuke," for example. But the story-teller, in every case, has so recolored and reshaped his borrowing as to naturalize it… One queer tale, "Yuki-Onna," was told me by a farmer of Chofu, Nishitama-gori, in Musashi province, as a legend of his native village. Whether it has ever been written in Japanese I do not know; but the extraordinary belief which it records used certainly to exist in most parts of Japan, and in many curious forms… The incident of "Riki-Baka" was a personal experience; and I wrote it down almost exactly as it happened, changing only a family-name mentioned by the Japanese narrator. (Summary by L. Hearn, from the Introduction to the book and Ava)
For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover, or other languages or formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.
For more free audiobooks, or to become a volunteer reader, please visit librivox.org.
Download M4B (107MB)
Read by LibriVox Volunteers.
Most of the following Kwaidan, or Weird Tales, have been taken from old Japanese books,— such as the Yaso-Kidan, Bukkyo-Hyakkwa-Zensho, Kokon-Chomonshu, Tama-Sudare, and Hyaku-Monogatari. Some of the stories may have had a Chinese origin: the very remarkable "Dream of Akinosuke," for example. But the story-teller, in every case, has so recolored and reshaped his borrowing as to naturalize it… One queer tale, "Yuki-Onna," was told me by a farmer of Chofu, Nishitama-gori, in Musashi province, as a legend of his native village. Whether it has ever been written in Japanese I do not know; but the extraordinary belief which it records used certainly to exist in most parts of Japan, and in many curious forms… The incident of "Riki-Baka" was a personal experience; and I wrote it down almost exactly as it happened, changing only a family-name mentioned by the Japanese narrator. (Summary by L. Hearn, from the Introduction to the book and Ava)
For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover, or other languages or formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.
For more free audiobooks, or to become a volunteer reader, please visit librivox.org.
Download M4B (107MB)
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urn:storj:bucket:jvrrslrv7u4ubxymktudgzt3hnpq:kwaidan_1005_librivox
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Reviews
Reviewer:
Timothy Ferguson
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
October 7, 2011
Subject: A patchy collection
Subject: A patchy collection
It's not really a single book. Japanese ghost stories at the front, musings on ths spiritual meaning of the social organisation of insects at the back. The ghost stories are great, though. IMO: stop there unless you like a bit of theology.
Reviewer:
Lucy_k_p
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
October 12, 2010
Subject: Very Enjoyable
Subject: Very Enjoyable
An entertaining collection of stories that made 4 hours of vacuuming and cleaning mirrors much more bearable. All of the readers were excellent - well paced and perfectly understandable.
There are a few spine-chilling moments and listeners get to learn a lot about Japanese folklore.
There are a few spine-chilling moments and listeners get to learn a lot about Japanese folklore.
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