Supernatural Japan

Super Japan examines the role of Japanese writer Izumi Kyōka (1873-1939) in shaping modern fantasy literature in Japan as a global literary genre. Kyōka wrote some of the most famous ghost, monster, and supernatural stories in modern Japanese literature, including The Holy Man of Mount Koya, The Grass Maze, and The Castle Tower. Despite the clear modernist elements and global influences in Kyoka's work, his works are often described as drawing on traditional Japanese literary genres as inspiration for their themes and literary form. Pedro Passoy examines how Kyouka's stories were shaped by the convergence of global influences, including Apuleius, One Thousand and One Nights, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Prosper Mérimée, Guy de Maupassant, Gerhart Hauptmann, and Jules Verne, along with traditional Japanese literary genres. Bassoy develops the concept of “academic fiction” to describe how a range of realist epistemological theories enhance the element of fiction in Kyouka’s writing. Supernatural Japan provides a modern introduction to Izumi Kyōka and his writings, intended for students, researchers, and fans of Japanese fantasy literature and related media.