Kowabana: 'True' Japanese scary stories from around the internet: Origins

Kowabana #4

by Tara A. Devlin

The internet has long been a hotbed of the creepy and unknown. In the West we have stories like Jeff the Killer or Slender Man that have enthralled and terrified audiences for years. But how about in the East? Have you ever heard of Kunekune, the mysterious figure that drives people mad upon sight? How about the house they call Pandora, with its secrets so terrifying that generations have attempted to bury its truth? Who or what is the thing children call Hisaruki? What horrible truths hide behind the curse of the mummy known as Ryoumen Sukuna? ‘True’ Japanese scary stories from around the Origins features 26 of the best creepypastas from Japan. These tales are the cream of the crop when it comes to Japanese horror. Follow the history of Japan’s thriving creepypasta culture and experience a new type of terror, with many stories being translated into English for the first time right here. You’ve never experienced horror like this before.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Japan

408 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2018

About the author

Tara A. Devlin studied Japanese at the University of Queensland before moving to Japan in 2005. She lived in Matsue, the birthplace of Japanese ghost stories, for 10 years, where her love for Japanese horror really grew. And with Izumo, the birthplace of Japanese mythology, just a stone’s throw away, she was never too far from the mysterious. You can find her collection of horror and fantasy writings at taraadevlin.com and translations of Japanese horror at kowabana.net.

Reviews

[Richard Saxon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kowabana offers an insight into local Japanese horror shorts. It's interesting to read how western and eastern horror stories can be so different while simultaneously having so much in common.

Having a collection of several stories there is some variation in the writing quality, coming from different authors and so on, but it was a thoroughly pleasant experience to read these.

It's definitely worth checking out.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume traces creepypastas back to the year they emerged,and the trend they were following. Unfortunately, it seemed like I read all these before.

[Liz Wighr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kowabana is a great anthology of the little-known contemporary horror stories of Japan. Not only are the stories enthralling, but the history and context that preceded each section makes the reading experience all the better. I also like how the small Japanese formatting quirks are still present in the translation.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this book! It’s a great read for both J-horror and standard horror fans alike.

[Joshua Hair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tara Devlin is not a new author to me. I read and loved Midnight Shadows and have been interested in the Japanese Urban Legend books for awhile. When I saw Origins for preorder I went for it without hesitation. I wasn't sure what to expect, to be honest, but it was pretty interesting seeing the difference between urban legends there as opposed to the stories told here in the U.S. Admittedly, I couldn't get into all of them; some were simply too similar or formulaic. That said, I appreciated Devlin's breakdown of the year-to-year evolution seen in these Japanese horrors. Based on this one, I'll give one of Devlin's other collections a go.

[Keila Lourenço · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's rare to find japanese content so well translated. The way she puts a timeline to the creepypastas, the way the stories changed along the years. It's a very impressive job!
It's a quick read book and it worth reading every page.

[KarenMichelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these bokks!

All I never considered the history of Japanese horror. While some were familiar it was fascinating to see the evolution. More more more!

[Anthony Calisto · Rating 4 out of 5]

The original Creepypasta

The stories in contained in this book are some vintage internet material up until present day. Some of these stories have heavily influenced the modern Creepypasta culture. If you want to read excellent stories from the other side of the world that you wont often hear in the West or look into the origins of today's spooky internet culture then this book is for you

[Rebo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reason for the low score is that I would say at least 1/2 of the stories are repeated from the other volumes, so there’s only about 50% new content. And to make it worse, the repeated content is generally better than the new stuff. I’m sure this volume would be fine as a stand alone, but after reading Vol 1-3, it really felt overall like a waste of time. If you’re not buying the set, I would say skip it.

[Angustia⋆Cósmica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a lukewarm collection this time around. For someone who read all the previous volumes, many of the stories were repeated from past books so I had to skip many stories.
I guess it'd have made more sense for the first book to be like this, but maybe I'm just picky myself.
All in all, good stories, just not as packing a punch as in the previous books.

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn’t expect there to be so many stories centered around parenthood, but I’m delighted we got them. Had some devoted parents, some evil moms, and closed it out with desperate moms. I really hope the translator gives us an LGBT edition one of these days. A fantastic collection!

[ericka glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one

Nice slow burn but i got indulged into his book for a whole week. I really loved learning the origins of the Japanese creepy internet stories.

[Mercy Nurse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually my favorite installation so far!

[Wyrd Witch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readers of the blog might remember previous reviews of the Kowabana series. For those who’ve never heard of the series, Kowabana is a series of translated scary stories first found on the internet. Found primarily on the Japanese message board 2chan, these stories are what we call creepypasta. In many respects, creepypasta represent the modern, internet age of the campfire story. This is no less true for the stories featured in the Kowabana series.

Interestingly, though, Kowabana: Origins differs a little in its presentation of these stories. Previous entries in the series separated its stories by theme or location. For example, chapters either focused solely on ghost stories, stories that take place on specific holidays, or on rural or urban settings. Kowabana: Origins, by contrast, sets out to be a chronological anthology of the phenomenon of Japanese creepypasta. Each chapter focuses on some of the most popular and formative scary Internet stories of the year they were posted. This decision offers a very valuable insight into the development of this anonymous art form.

Read the rest of the review here.