An Adventure in Japanese Folklore: Tales of Moonlight and Rain

This week we discuss a classic of Japanese Literature: Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari.  Tune in to hear some wild stories and to hear Jennifer's opinion on a classic.

Mythology & Folklore: Japan

Jennifer did her best to give a brief summary of Japanese religious history during this episode, and here are a few of the sources that she used:

• A bullet list of the main points of Japanese religious history: https://www.uwosh.edu/facstaff/barnhill/244-japan/bits-of-history
• Wikipedia article on Shinto
• Wikipedia article on Religion in Japan
• Wikipedia article on Japanese Mythology
• Very cool video that tells the Shinto creation myth with Japanese artwork: https://youtu.be/l3MKdJjQeOw
• An impressive 25-minute summary of Japanese history with adorable animations: https://youtu.be/8Zwi3XXLci8

And here are the sources for some of the specific folklore bits that Jennifer talked about:

• An interesting discussion between two Buddhist monks on the Asura Realm: https://youtu.be/SnauEqgUYnw
• Wikipedia article on the Asura Realm
• An amazing encyclopedia of Japanese yokai: http://yokai.com/
• A brief survey of some of the most notorious Yokai: https://youtu.be/Gd1D2gWhDXM

Paige Presents Fun with Comics: Lazarus, Image Comics

Tales of Moonlight and Rain, Ueda Akinari

• Wikipedia article on Ueda Akinari
• Wikipedia article on Tales of Moonlight and Rain
• Buy a copy for yourself: https://bookshop.org/a/9616/9780231139137

Creative’s Corner: a true crime YouTube channel, Brief Case. 

Discussion Questions

• What was the last book you read that made you feel like you were not smart enough to be reading it?
• What books have you read that you felt suffered from being translated? i.e. something was missing, the word choice or style didn’t come across well, etc.

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