Apr 19

JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo’

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“Apparitions succeeds at not only giving historically accurate insight into the Edo period, but also delivers thought-provoking ghost stories that inspire fear and excitement with subtlety and expertly written dialogue and prose.” (Haikasoru)

By Julio Perez Jr. (Kyoto-shi, 2011-13) for JQ magazine. A bibliophile, writer, translator, and graduate from Columbia University, Julio is currently working at Ishikawa Prefecture’s New York office while seeking opportunities with publications in New York. Follow his enthusiasm for Japan, literature, and board gaming on his blog and Twitter @brittlejules.

Miyuki Miyabe is a Japanese author who writes widely popular fantasy, science fiction, and crime fiction for adults and young adults. Some of her works translated into English are Brave Story, ICO: Castle in the Mist, and The Book of Heroes. Published by Haikasoru last November, Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo is a collection of Miyabe’s short stories (translated by Daniel Huddleston) about pre-modern Japan depictions of ghosts, oni, and other supernatural events.

Apparitions includes nine short stories that are each unique but all so thoroughly engrossing that you can feel the immediacy of the narrator leaning in to deliver the chilling line foretelling the horrors yet to be revealed. Each of the stories captures the social hierarchy of the Edo period, which is a key element to illustrate in Japanese horror. One of the reoccurring aspects in Japanese ghost lore is an unbearably deep grudge that keeps a person’s spirit lingering after death. Edo society had a very rigid class system that is the source of frustration and resentment among characters, and this very resentment leads to vengeful ghost stories. This is why most ghosts in this genre are servants or women who are taking revenge on unjust masters, and insincere lovers of higher status. In this way, Japanese ghost stories are uniquely powerful in portraying the potential for wickedness in the human heart, whether it is the heart of the living or that of the vengeful dead. The supernatural dangers that appear in these stories all result from the cruel actions and thoughts of normal people that can and do occur every day. This is often exactly what is terrifying about these tales—not the ghosts, but the people.

One of the interesting threads the tales share is a depiction of the lives of the merchants and workers in Japan’s pre-modern capital, Edo. Many popular stories of the Edo period focus on samurai who acted as the ruling class of Japan for two centuries before the Meiji Restoration in 1868. However, the Edo period was a time of centralized rule and peace that was accompanied by flourishing economical and cultural development attributed to merchants. Although lower in status than samurai, merchants were often much more wealthy and were able to exercise power of their own through their ability to provide much needed loans to the government and its officials. These stories provide an interesting view into the lives of the owners of merchant houses, as well as the craftsmen, maids, and other employees that made the shops run smoothly.

In these stories, the portrayal of the hierarchy within the merchant houses is rigid but not always negative. Many of the narrators and respected characters are eager to sing praises of the shop owners that provide employment and living space for children and orphans who would otherwise have no means to survive themselves. Working in a successful business is seen as a chance to develop skills and the rewards that can come with them. For the most part, as long as the owners themselves are virtuous, the shops are portrayed in a positive light, where the lowliest of servants are eager to work in gratitude for their situation and in exchange are regarded with affection akin to extended family. The discussions of how to be a virtuous master and a virtuous servant, and how to be a good child and a good parent, reappear again and again, demonstrating the importance of hierarchy in the period as well as the strong influence of Confucian philosophies at the time. Ghost stories can be scary and fun, but the best ghost stories are the ones that not only scare us but also inspire us to think about human nature, morality, and society.

Apparitions succeeds at not only giving historically accurate insight into the Edo period, but also delivers thought-provoking ghost stories that inspire fear and excitement with subtlety and expertly written dialogue and prose. Miyabe is very creative in taking inspiration from classics from both Japan and Western supernatural fiction to create wonderful new tales to enjoy. If you like other collections of Japanese tales of the supernatural, yokai, and horror such as Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan or Edogawa Rampo’s Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination, then Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo is a must read. If you are more familiar with English-language authors such as L.P. Hartley and Stephen King, you will also find a lot to enjoy in this collection.