ABSTRACT

Ugetsu Monogatari, or Tales of Moonlight and Rain numbers among the best-loved Japanese classics. These nine illustrated tales of the supernatural from eighteenth-century Osaka combine popular appeal with a high literary standard. The author expressed his complex views on human life and society in simple yet poetic language. Akinari questioned the prevailing moral values and standards of his age whilst entertaining his readers with mystery and other-worldly occurrences. This is a reissue of Leon Zolbrod’s definitive English translation of the work, first published in 1974.

 

chapter |76 pages

Introduction

chapter |1 pages

New and Old Supernatural Stories

part One|24 pages

Volume One

chapter I|11 pages

White Peak

(Shiramine)

chapter II|12 pages

Chrysanthemum Tryst

(Kikuka no chigiri)

part Two|18 pages

Volume Two

chapter III|11 pages

The House Amid the Thickets

(Asaji ga yado) 189

chapter IV|7 pages

The Carp that Came to My Dream

(Muō no rigyo)

part Three|22 pages

Volume Three

chapter V|10 pages

Bird of Paradise

(Buppōsō) 286

chapter VI|12 pages

The Caldron of Kibitsu

(Kibitsu no Kama) 352

part Four|24 pages

Volume Four

chapter VII|24 pages

The Lust of the White Serpent

(Jasei no in) 399

part Five|22 pages

Volume Five

chapter VIII|9 pages

The Blue Hood

(Aozukin) 495

chapter IX|13 pages

Wealth and Poverty

(Himpuku-ron)