In my opinion, Japanese Horror as its own genre is very unique and different than the traditional American Horror. It relies on more psychological and eerie aspects within its style. This week I read the series of short stories, “Kwaidan” by Lafcadio Hearn.
Before reading and watching “Kwaidan”, I had somewhat of an idea of how japanese portray their horror stories. I knew it wouldn’t be as scary or thrilling compared to other horrors, but more cultural and honor-based. “Kwaidan” successfully strengthened that concept in my head, and I found these stories very interesting.
One of the stories that I’ve read and watched was The Woman of the Snow (Yuki-Onna) which introduced me to this style in our class. For example, when the Woman of the Snow makes the vow, Minokitchi had to take this very seriously. When it comes to messing with the spiritual and demons, japanese superstition must not be taken for granted. Another example is in The Story of O-Tei, when O-Tei makes a promise that she will be resurrected for her husband. And in the story, it is proven to be true that she does come back alive.
There is also a great usage of symbolism and cultural reference in “Kwaidan”. In Hoichi the Earless, Hoichi is a blind Biwa musician that lives with a priest and servants in the temple. The lifestyles of the priest is reflected onto Hoichi, such as meditation and serving in the temple. On the other hand, the symbolism of man vs nature was also present- how the characters cannot fight the ghostly spirits of the Heike, but believe that the priest’s voodoos will save them. And it does work to an extent, however Hoichi loses his ears because it was not scripted (Which also is connected to the exact/seriousness of J-horror).
Overall, I could say that one of the main factors J-horror is so unique because of its definition of good vs evil. The antagonists of most of the stories in “Kwaidan” do not seem to be necessarily evil. If you stand in their viewpoint, they are just living their own lives. Like the Woman of the Snow, she is just following the laws of nature. And in Hoichi the Earless, the samurai is just following the orders of his king. I enjoyed J-horror a lot because of its psychological and anxiety based fears.
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