Tilted Axis Press

The Buddhist festival of Obon is celebrated in mid-August – when it is believed the spirits of the deceased return to wander the earth

this tradition evolved as a way of alleviating the blistering summer heat through the chilling effect of fear on the body.

One of Japan’s most well-known ghost stories, the tale of Otsuyu, is a perennially pertinent reminder of the dangers of having sex with ghosts.

Botan Dōrō [The Peony Lantern]

Otsuyu meets Shinzaburō Hagiwara, a rōnin or masterless samurai, and the two fall hopelessly in love, but are forbidden from being together because they come from different social classes. So deep is Otsuyu’s yearning that she eventually dies of lovesickness. Come Obon, however, Otsuyu appears at Shinzaburō’s door and the lovers enjoy a passionate reunion. Soon she is visiting him every night, bearing a peony lantern. Noticing that Shinzaburō is growing more haggard and believing him to be possessed, his tenant hangs a talisman outside the door, preventing the entry of Otsuyu’s ghost. Those passing the house at nightfall now see a lantern floating sadly around the vicinity of Shinzaburō’s house.

spending all his time in his marl-grey tracksuit, shabby from constant wear, Shinzaburō had morphed into a big grey sloth.

In the afternoon, he would lounge about on the sofa, watching reruns of period dramas and mulling over questions of no particular significance, like whether, back in the Edo period, his lack of fixed employment would have made him a rōnin. How much better that sounded than simply unemployed.

Now, Mr Hagiwara, we do most earnestly beseech you to exercise the utmost caution around women going by the name of Kuniko. For the thing is, you see, this Kuniko utilised her feminine wiles to claw her way to the stature of second wife.

Every life has its dose of misfortune.

if I go around buying such stuff while I’m without an income, the only thanks I’ll get from my wife will be a good telling-off.’