{"id":34780,"date":"2026-01-20T17:50:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34780"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:50:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:50:57","slug":"lafcadio-hearns-the-faceless-ghost-and-other-macabre-tales-from-japan-a-graphic-novel-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/01\/20\/lafcadio-hearns-the-faceless-ghost-and-other-macabre-tales-from-japan-a-graphic-novel-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lafcadio Hearn\u2019s The Faceless Ghost and Other Macabre Tales from Japan: A Graphic Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Se\u00e1n Michael Wilson <\/strong>& Michiru Morikawa<\/strong> (Shambhala Publications)
\nISBN: 978-1-61180-197-2 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

If you read prose and love old stories you should really track down the works of Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, an Irish-Greek raconteur latterly renamed Koizumi Yakumo. They are wonderful and truly compelling. He was a pretty impressive character too, so you\u2019d be best served to learn of his remarkable life too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not certain how the socially pioneering teacher, journalist, historian, translator and archivist would react to seeing some of his most engaging works translated into graphic narratives but as a renowned breaker of borders and flouter of taboos, I suspect he\u2019d approve, even if this gleefully wry collation hadn\u2019t been produced by such stellar luminaries as Scottish author Se\u00e1n Michael Wilson (Breaking the Ten<\/strong>, Portraits of Violence – An Illustrated History of Radical Thinking<\/strong>, Ranald MacDonald: a manga of his adventures in Japan<\/strong>) and his frequent collaborator Michiru Morikawa.<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s life has some parallels with Hearn\u2019s. The Japan-based writer, educator and dedicated Humanist has written political and philosophical tracts such as Goodbye God – An Illustrated Examination of Science Vs. Religion<\/strong> in graphic form and adapted Western and Eastern literary classics like Wuthering Heights<\/strong>, A Christmas Carol<\/strong>, Sweeney Todd<\/strong>, and Chinese classics Tao Te Ching<\/strong> and The Garden<\/strong>, as well as original genre pieces such as urban interracial romance The Story of Lee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Illustrator and manga artist Michiru Morikawa won the 2005 International Manga and Anime Award before going on to illustrate Wilson\u2019s books Buskers<\/strong>, Yakuza Moon<\/strong>, The Demon\u2019s Sermon on the Martial Arts<\/strong> and Musashi<\/strong>, amongst numerous comics series.<\/p>\n

Hearn visited Japan as a correspondent in 1890, and fell in love with the land and the culture. He ended his days there in 1904, after marrying, becoming a Japanese citizen, teaching in numerous schools and universities and introducing the western world to the exotic, enigmatic East through his writings and translations of its myths and legends.<\/p>\n

Absurdly accessible, the tales here are gathered from the nation\u2019s feudal period and open with a samurai yarn dubbed \u2018Diplomacy\u2019<\/em>, wherein a highborn executioner performs his onerous task and plays a subtle and crafty trick upon the imminently departed to ensure that there will be no repercussions from beyond the grave…<\/p>\n

That mordantly amusing distraction then gives way to a classic ghost story in \u2018The Snow Woman\u2019<\/em>, wherein a young woodcutter survives an icy encounter with a mystical spirit at the cost of a simple promise. Tragically, in all such stories, keeping one\u2019s word is always impossible and leads to appalling inescapable circumstances.
\n\"\"
\nVanity and dissatisfaction fuel the saga \u2018Of a Mirror and a Bell\u2019<\/em>, after the priests of Mugenyama ask the local women to donate their bronze mirrors so they can be cast into a great bell. After complying, one farmer\u2019s wife begins to bitterly regret her actions and so intense are her feelings that the mirror cannot be melted down.<\/p>\n

Wracked with guilt for her shameful intentions and the spoiling of the bell, she takes her life, triggering a concatenation of unfortunate events…<\/p>\n

After the history-making final clash between Heike (Taira<\/em>) and Genji (Minamoto<\/em>) clans, the rulership of Japan was decided for centuries to come. However, the consequent sea battle created thousands of ghosts and \u2018Hoichi the Earless\u2019<\/em> relates how a blind musician and bard is tricked and beguiled by these restless spirits until a Buddhist priest intervenes. The end result was not an unqualified success…<\/p>\n

Pitiless, inescapable horror drives the brief yet potent tale of a luckless merchant who encounters \u2018The Faceless Ghost\u2019<\/em>, whilst love and friendship inspire the story of a young man in need of a bride who prospers after he graciously saves a shark spirit and is uniquely rewarded by \u2018The Gratitude of the Samebito\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

As recounted in the \u2018Author\u2019s Note\u2019<\/em> – detailing the origins and source material of these adaptions – the stories are mostly taken from Hearn\u2019s books Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things <\/strong>(1903) and Shadowings<\/strong> (1900), and come packed with sleek, informative and delightfully rambling diversions which add fabulously engaging context to the stories.<\/p>\n

Eerie, exotic and wonderfully compelling, these \u201cyokai\u201d stories are gems of unease, disquiet and wonder that no lover of the strange can fail to adore.
\n\u00a9 2015 by Sean Michael Wilson. Illustrations \u00a9 2015 by Michiru Morikawa. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1894 Little Orphan Annie<\/strong> creator Harold Gray<\/strong> was born, as was George<\/strong> (Green Arrow<\/strong>, Superboy<\/strong>, Congo Bill<\/strong>) Papp<\/strong> in 1916 and Scots pen & pencil wizard John McLusky<\/strong> (James Bond<\/strong>, Secret Agent 13<\/strong>, Laurel and Hardy<\/strong>, Pink Panther<\/strong>, Look and Learn<\/strong>) in 1923. In 1944 Bill<\/strong> (Zippy the Pinhead<\/strong>) Griffith<\/strong> joined the world as did Keith Pollard<\/strong> (Thor<\/strong>, Fantastic Four<\/strong>, Vigilante<\/strong>) in 1950.<\/p>\n

On the debit side the world lost caricaturist, cartoonist and father of French animation \u00c9mile Cohl<\/strong> in 1938 and in 2017, master draughtman, painter, educator, film production artist, comics star and thoroughly sound bloke John Watkiss<\/strong> (Sandman<\/strong>, Ring of Roses<\/strong>, Sandman Mystery Theatre<\/strong>, Deadman<\/strong>, Starman<\/strong>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Se\u00e1n Michael Wilson & Michiru Morikawa (Shambhala Publications) ISBN: 978-1-61180-197-2 (TPB\/Digital edition) If you read prose and love old stories you should really track down the works of Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, an Irish-Greek raconteur latterly renamed Koizumi Yakumo. They are wonderful and truly compelling. He was a pretty impressive character too, so you\u2019d be … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Lafcadio Hearn\u2019s The Faceless Ghost and Other Macabre Tales from Japan: A Graphic Novel”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,191,122,66,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptations","category-adventure","category-historical","category-horror-stories","category-japanese-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-92Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34783,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34780\/revisions\/34783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}