Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan Coming from Kurodahan Press

[Jet_Jaguar]

I'm not sure when this will be out (the website says that the first volume will be out in Fall 2009, but I have a feeling that it might be delayed since I can't find information on it anywhere else, and this is seem to be a fairly small publishing company that takes a "It'll be finished when it's finished" approach to their books), but it looks like it will be worth watching for:

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0007cate.html

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0008cate.html

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0009cate.html

If the covers to these books are any indication, Yokai fans will probably enjoy them.

[Jet_Jaguar]

I just found out that the first volume of Kaiki is now available:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/4902075083/kurodahanpres-20

Japan has a long history of weird and supernatural literature, but it has been introduced into English only haphazardly until now. The first volume of a 3-volume anthology covering over two centuries of kaiki literature, including both short stories and manga, from Ueda Akinari's Ugetsu Monogatari of 1776 to Kyogoku Natsuhiko's modern interpretations of popular tales. Selected and with commentary by Higashi Masao, a recognized researcher and author in the field, the series systemizes and introduces the scope of the field and helps establish it as a genre of its own. This first volume presents a variety of work focusing on pre-modern Japan, and includes one manga.

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0007cate.html

The first volume in our Kaiki series introducing the world of Japanese weird and supernatural literature, Tales of Old Edo presents a selection of outstanding works drawn from centuries of creativity in the field, with an in-depth introduction to the genre by recognized authority Higashi Masao.

Contents

Robert Weinberg
Preface: "An Ordinary World, Interrupted"

Higashi Masao 東雅夫
Introduction: "The Origins of Japanese Weird Fiction"
translated by Miri Nakamura

Lafcadio Hearn
"The Value of the Supernatural in Fiction" (1898)
"In a Cup of Tea" (1902)

Ueda Akinari 上田秋成
"The Chrysanthemum Pledge" (菊花の約; 1776)
translated by Pamela Ikegami

Kyōgoku Natsuhiko 京極夏彦
"Three Old Tales of Terror" (『旧耳袋』; 2005;「誰が作った」「何がしたい」「どこに居た」)
translated by Rossa O'Muireartaigh

Miyabe Miyuki 宮部みゆき
"The Futon Room" (布団部屋; 2000)
translated by Stephen A. Carter

Okamoto Kidō 岡本綺堂
"Here Lies a Flute" (笛塚; 1925)
translated by Nancy H. Ross
This translation won the 2008 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

Tanaka Kōtarō 田中貢太郎　
"The Face in the Hearth" (竈の中の顔; 1928)
translated by Edward Lipsett

Kōda Rohan 幸田露伴
"The Pointer" (幻談; 1938)
translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Inagaki Taruho 稲垣足穂
"The Inō Residence, Or, The Competition with a Ghost" (稲生家＝化物コンクール; 1972)
translated by Jeffrey Angles

Yamamoto Shūgorō 山本周五郎
"Through the Wooden Gate" (その木戸を通って; 1959)
translated by Mark Gibeau

Sugiura Hinako 杉浦日向子
"Three Eerie Tales of Dark Nights" (『百物語』より「闇夜の怪三話」; 1993)
translated by Dan Luffey; graphics by Dorothy Gambrell

The Kurodahan site has a link to this review:

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/articles/jp0007art2.html

Kaiki will cater to a clear gap in the market. Japanese supernatural fiction (in contrast to film and manga) is little known in the English language world. A whole new experience—yet one sometimes strangely familiar—is out there and waiting.

[Jet_Jaguar]

The second volume of this series is finally coming out after being delayed for several months:

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/articles/jp0008art1.html

[Jet_Jaguar]

Kaiki Vol. 2 is now available (Amazon only has one copy in stock right now):

http://www.amazon.com/Country-Delights- ... 867&sr=1-2

[Jet_Jaguar]

The long-awaited third and final volume of this series is now available:

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0009cate.html