魍魎の匣 [Mouryou no Hako]

百鬼夜行 #2

by Natsuhiko Kyogoku

箱を祀る奇妙な霊能者。箱詰めにされた少女達の四肢。そして巨大な箱型の建物ーー箱を巡る虚妄が美少女転落事件とバラバラ殺人を結ぶ。探偵・榎木津、文士・関口、刑事・木場らがみな事件に関わり京極堂の元へ。果たして憑物（つきもの）は落とせるのか！？日本推理作家協会賞に輝いた超絶ミステリ、妖怪シリーズ第2弾。

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Fiction, Japan, Crime, Manga, Japanese Literature

新書

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Natsuhiko Kyogoku ( 京極 夏彦 Kyōgoku Natsuhiko, born March 26, 1963) is a Japanese mystery writer, who is a member of Ōsawa Office. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan and the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan.

Three of his novels have been turned into feature films; Mōryō no Hako, which won the 1996 Mystery Writers of Japan Award, was also made into an anime TV series, as was Kosetsu Hyaku Monogatari, and his book Loups=Garous was adapted into an anime feature film. Vertical have published his debut novel as The Summer of the Ubume.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[richa ⋆.˚★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐

[Vel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like my previous review didn't quite express how I ended up feeling about what would eventually become one of my favorite mystery books, so... Mouryou no Hako review: the second take, here we go!

This book is fucking bonkers. A creepy in-universe short story about a living girl in a box, a cycle of rebirth shared between two girls (who, curiously enough, are both alive!), a psychic with a cult following who claims to seal the evil spirits (mouryou) plaguing the lives of his followers into a sacred box, a series of dismemberment murders where limbs are stuffed tightly into boxes and then carefully put in random crevices all over town, a mysterious box-shaped high-tech medical research facility hidden in the woods - it's got so many different flavors of crazy going for it and they're all absolutely scrumptious. All of these elements are linked together by a bizarre case (or collection of cases, perhaps?) that denies common sense and is alluring precisely because of that.

Pair that with a captivating thematic framework, tons of fun rants on a variety of topics, very cool folkloric elements and an incredibly fun cast of characters; top it off with one of the most deranged finale sequences I've seen in a "mystery" novel and you've got Mouryou no Hako. It can be a bit slow sometimes, some of the info may feel a bit... oversaturated?, kind of, but it's really worth it. I'm entering the box as we speak.

Probably my favorite thing out of what I read in 2023. I really hope I'll be able to laud another book by this author with as much praise as I'm heading into my 2024 reader journey and preparing myself mentally for Tesso no Ori's 1300 pages of "despite all my rage I'm still just a Zen Buddhist monk in a cage."

[Undra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lately I've been getting into horror genre mangas/books and picked this one up by its glowing reviews on some manga forums.I read the manga version and while it didn't disappoint me for its pure horror shock value, I felt as though some volumes were unnecessarily dragged out and the story was little confusing to follow. While reading some too long, unnecessary dialogues I kept telling myself 'Undra PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE, PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE'. Well... towards the end it got a lot more interesting and I think overall it's an OK read.

[Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

没想到还有比岛田大神更能“灌水”的小说家，虽然读到一半就想放弃，虽然看到那么多名词就想弃书，虽然忍受不了那么多“废话”，但是读完后，还是忍不住想说，我想看下一本😂

[Lei · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-4.5星，太变态了，对肠胃不好，而且可能对不起午饭钱

[Nicktimebreak · Rating 5 out of 5]

对于第一部有些评论说作者啰嗦、不讲悬疑设定，我倒觉得这些看似废话的理论才是真正的意思所在，作者有渊博的中国古典文化知识，同时在神秘主义、灵媒、异能方面的形而上学思考也甚为精彩，用箱子的隐喻串联故事情节，非常有意思的阅读。
相较而言解谜的第二部个人感觉反倒没那么有意思，反转设定脑洞是挺大的，但是画面感尺度有点过大。

[XXX · Rating 3 out of 5]

到底是作者的问题还是译者的问题，各种别扭。一部好的小说应该是引导读者自己去体悟，而不是这样生硬的灌输世界观。

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

看的还是志水老师的漫画版，没找着条目代标一下。知道魍魉之匣最先动画化的噱头在哪了，确实很契合时下（当时）观众的兴趣点，但其实是我本人最不感兴趣的主题（指核诡和动机）……倒是发现京极堂是真的很会搞隐喻，关于木场的心的描写都很动人

[Lucida · Rating 4 out of 5]

诡异怪作，文笔远胜三三。

[Ariana He · Rating 3 out of 5]

结尾我真的无语到笑出声

[JANE · Rating 5 out of 5]

还蛮精彩的

[αcolon · Rating 4 out of 5]

第二本百鬼夜行系列，不是很喜欢，但还是被震撼到了，给这个加一星。这时候还不习惯百鬼夜行系列。欣赏这部的青木。

[Nira · Rating 5 out of 5]

ยิ่งหนาและหนักยิ่งกว่าเล่มก่อน.... แต่วางไม่ลง คนเขียนบอกว่าเรื่องนี้ไม่ใช่แนวนักสืบ แต่ข้าพเจ้าว่านี่แหละคือแนวนักสืบที่ข้าพเจ้าอยากอ่าน คดีที่พัวพันกันจนซับซ้อนกลมกลืน ตอนไขปริศนาก็ช่างรวดเร็วปลอดโปร่งจริงๆ

[至芳 岡村 · Rating 4 out of 5]

箱ではありません。
魍魎は・・・・・・。

[E H · Rating 5 out of 5]

「信仰とは何か」について色々考えるきっかけになりました。

怪我人や病人に対する異常な愛着行為について。
本書の例は極端ではありますが、脳死者の臓器摘出を渋る気持ちや無意味な延命治療のことを考えると、遺族となる時、何か狂気的なエゴと直面するのかもしれないと思いました。

[Mastugae Kiyoaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

ghost in the shell