3: J-Horror and Eastern Supernatural Narratives

A Wild Sheep Chase

A Wild Sheep Chase is the third novel in the "Trilogy of the Rat" by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The book follows a 30-year-old Japanese man through Tokyo and Hokkaidō in 1978. The passive, chain-smoking main character gets swept away on an adventure that leads him on a hunt for a rare horned sheep that has not been seen for years. Throughout his journey he meets a woman with magically seductive ears and a strange man who dresses as a sheep. It’s wild and quirky novel that touches on all types of freaky subjects, Murakami is a one of kind writer his style is weird and weird on an entirely different caliber. He manages to blend elements of American and English literature with Japanese contexts, exploring the cultural identity of post-WWII Japan. It’s a Holmes like mystery novel littered with magic and fused with postmodernism. I enjoyed the read on so many levels the pace of the novel was great and Murakami is just the best kind of weird for me. I love how he approaches the fantastical, he treats it as if it’s not magic at all I also love that he never names any of his characters except for the cat it’s interesting, I never questioned it while reading. Good Stuff.

Kwaidan and the Exploration of Good and Evil

I loved the Kwaidan film adaptation we watched in class of “The Woman of the Snow” the second tale in the film made by Masaki Kobayashi. It just represents Japanese folklore perfectly it was so scary plus it was beautiful I watched the whole thing when I got home. The idea that spirits, ghosts and super natural entities are to be approached with respect is so different than how the western world approaches the subject. Nature and Magic are one, they aren’t necessarily evil but they are equally as unpredictable and thus we must approach them with respect after all we are only mortal humans we have no understanding of their purpose. If you are encountered by the supernatural you live or you die. So often in western culture we tend to point out the obvious, bad guy, good guy, black and white. J-Horror is more than often in the gray it’s an encounter or a repercussion of human action alone the “evil” never pursues, it must be provoked like an animal.

Other Perspectives

Well I watched Audition and I can honestly say that psychological horror hasn’t been quite this exhilarating for me or…nauseating in a very long time, it’s not for the weak of heart. Being an Illustrator I would also like to mention Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki although being an animated film geared towards a younger audience you can’t help but notice similarities with it and J-Horror and depending on how you interpret the film it has its scary moments, on some deeper level. It’s also just visually stunning.