J-Horror

     This blog was created for the 2018 spring class for Lit of Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy course at Ringling College of Art and Design. In this blog I will talk about the books we read and what they mean to me personally. If you have come across this blog and have not read the book I am talking about this week, I will warn you now that I will spoil it.
     This week we had a selection to choose from to represent J-Horror. I chose to read Kwaidan, a collection of short stories. I picked this book because I feel like J-horror is best represented in short stories, I feel this way because everything is written rather "to the point" of the moral. From my understanding, In eastern culture there is a clear distinction between ghost and monster. Ghosts are the leftover anguish, anger, and/or anxiety of a human being, or at least anything that once had a soul. Monsters are those that had never been human nor beast, which gives J-Horror its main difference from many western horrors. While western horrors focus on the aspect of the body and the physical world, eastern horrors focus on the aspect of the spirit and body as one in perfect balance, and often has nothing to do with the physical world. Any Japanese folklore can be rather confusing if you have a strong western moral compass for morals or what we would consider "Justice" do not apply. Instead the driving factors are Karma and Wisdom, these are the two most important aspects of plot in J-Horror.
     Karma is the idea that if you do good by others, others will do good by you, and if you do bad by others, others will do bad by you. Seems simple but there is more to it. It isn't simply if I gave you a lollipop I'd get one from someone else. It's more like If I were to give you a lollipop when you absolutely needed one in that moment, and I didn't expect anything in return, then years later I would be rewarded for that kindness with an unpronounced favor. A good example of this concept in the Kwaidan is the story of the priest and the Rokurokubi. He cleverly dispatches the Rokurokubi, but when is questioned and feared for having a head attached to his shoulder he cooperates, and is kind and honest. because of this one of the judges decides to listen to him, which results in not only his freedom but his due praise for ridding the area of the Rokurokubi.
     Wisdom is even more important than Karma. Wisdom comes with age, and through wisdom one can accomplish anything, even things we would consider bad. A good example is the story of the lord executing his servant. The servant swears that if he is killed he will bring his ghostly vengeance to the house, for if anyone dies in extreme pain or rage they will Come back seeking revenge. Knowing this, the king asked him to prove it by biting the stone after his head is cut off. By asking this of him he changes the servant's focus from revenge to simply biting the stone, resulting in his passing on after that goal was accomplished.