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Tales of Moonlight and Rain

Ueda Akinari

Why we're reading this: Japan
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Mar 25, 2012 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: location-japan, short-stories, around-the-world, read2012

I ended up reading the Hamada translation of these tales, originally published by Columbia in 1972. After adding the introduction and understanding the complete mastery demonstrated in the creation of the original in Japanese, I'm not sure I could ever get the same experience in an English translation.

That said, I enjoyed the blend of folklore, religion, and the supernatural. The demon-snake-woman was the most memorable character, and the frequent use of buildings and people who could transform ...more

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Jan 31, 2018 Hesper rated it liked it

Shelves: japan, short-fiction

Been meaning to read this since seeing Mizoguchi's Ugetsu, but apparently it wasn't a pressing enough need: this book has been languishing on my TBR for eight years. Anyway, atmospheric and philosophical, these are more like meditations than stories. It's all right there in the title.

I might have appreciated their misty artistry more without the tonal dissonance of copious academic notations, which bookended every story in my edition. They were informative but distracting, and the preface brimm ...more

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Mar 04, 2018 Preethi rated it liked it

Shelves: can-do-without-reading-this, wanderlust-or-about-a-country, picked-these-as-recommendations, mind-bending-chilling-blowing

The stories in this book are all spooky, but with a folk background. The notes for each story make it easier to understand the context, the setting and background?

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