Kotaro Chiba

Chronicle Books presents 15 tales of horror from classic Japanese literature. The stories are divided into three sections (Journeys, Ghosts & Monsters, and Justice), with each story beginning with an original illustration by Kotaro Chiba. The stunning artwork is reminiscent of woodblock prints and demand the reader’s attention. In sum, this is a nice collection of folktales with twists of horror and enchantment, but the real attraction is the illustrations.

The Bottom Line: This is a gorgeous book; however, I unfortunately found the translated text to be quite stilted. Rather than racing through this book, I read the stories over time. Overall, I have given this a rating of 4 stars (5 for the illustrations and 3 for the text). It is important to note that the texts are readily available in the public domain with about half of the tales from Yei Theodora Ozaki’s Japanese Fairy Tales and another half from Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. This book will appeal to those interested in Japanese folktales, literature, and culture.… (meer)

Lovely book, which should be no surprise, as the publisher is Chronicle Books and they do great work. This volume has stories collected by Lafcadio Hearn and Yei Theodora Ozaki. It is divided into three thematic sections: Journeys, Ghosts and Monsters, and Justice. Despite the fact that I have several collections of Hearn's work, this is a great addition to my collection. It is beautifully illustrated by Kotaro Chiba, with end sheets that reference chiyogami paper. Chiba's work is very interesting; it straddles the worlds of ukiyo-e and contemporary manga. The illustrations for the "Ghosts and Monsters" stories are particularly compelling.… (meer)