IRC-Galleria

昔In the summertime of old Japan, when the oppressive heat and humidity rendered daylight activity all but unbearable, people longed for the night and the scant relief brought by the setting sun. There, amidst a chorus of frogs and insects serenading the coming Obon, the people would play Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (百物語怪談会), or A Gathering of 100 Ghostly Tales, and silently the spirits would return.

100 candles would be placed in a circle, and the players would each tell a ghoulish tale, often a story from their local village, or perhaps a more personal experience. As each tale ended, the storyteller would douse a single candle, the light slowly fading as the tension rose. The game was said to be a ritual of evocation, the expiration of each story and each candle summoning more spiritual energy, transforming the room into a beacon for the dead. With the vanishing of the final light, someone or something terrible would be waiting in the darkness.

We haven't the space to play a full game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, but perhaps, reading all these stories together, we can summon up enough ghostly substance to call forth an apparition to keep us company through the night. With that in mind, let the sun sink behind the mountains, cut the electricity, and light exactly four candles – the Japanese number for death, one for each tale of ghostly Japan.