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Vampiric: Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan
Japan has always had its own vampire tradition, and has eagerly naturalized Western vampires and vampire literature to produce exotic new hybrids and species of horror, of terror, and of sensual, exquisite beauty. Here are a few of their masterpieces.
The Japanese word for vampire is kyūketsuki, which translates literally to "blood-sucking monster," but the literary tradition is far, far more complex.
The practice of Buddhism permeates Japan, and burials are almost always by cremation... leaving the Count and his relatives with no coffins to sleep in! But there is more than one way to sip a little blood, as these authors reveal. Thanks to Bram Stoker, Christopher Lee, and countless others who have popularized the Western vampire, modern Japanese authors have an extensive range of traditions and tales to weave into their own creations.
Contents
Masaya SHIMOKUSU — "A Cultural Dynasty of Beautiful Vampires: Japan’s Acceptance, Modifications, and Adaptations of Vampires"
INOUE Masahiko—"Blue Lady"
ASUKABE Katsunori — "Kingdom"
KIKUCHI Hideyuki — "The Stone Castle"
OKAMOTO Kidō — "The One-Legged Woman"
HIKAGE Jōkichi — "Vampire"
ASAMATSU Ken — "The Crimson Cloak"
SUNAGA Asahiko — "Vow"
KAJIO Shinji — "The Husk Heir"
KAMON Nanami — "A Piece of Butterfly's Wing"
OKUDA Tetsuya — "Unnatural"
IINO Fumihiko — "Paradise Missing"
FUKUZAWA Tetsuzō — "Dracula’s House"
KONAKA Chiaki — "Birth of a Vampire"
MIKAWA Yū — "Halvires"
INOUE Masahiko — "Parasol"
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 25, 2019
15 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 21, 2022
As many other collections of tales quality varies from tale to tale. In this book most of the stories are great ones, I can only recall two that I didn't like, that's why I'm giving it a five. I'm amazed about what was made from the vampire figure in Japan, and I absolutely loved this book, I would read again many of it's stories without a doubt.
October 26, 2019
I am always excited when I get a new book by Kurodahan Press and very thankful to be sent an early promo copy of this book. If you are not familar they are an independent press that brings translations of otherwise obscure Japanese science fiction and horror to an American market. Very cool stuff! Just the basic concept of this one is something I am instantly sold on. A collection of Japanese Vampire tales is all you needed to tell me. I knew like all anthologies there would ups and downs, the good news is that it mostly ups.
As the author of a novel about Chinese vampires (my 2011 release Hunting The Moon Tribe), I have read and researched much about Chinese Vampires. I love hopping Chinese vampire movies but bloodsuckers from the island of Japan and their writers is something I was not familiar with. I assumed there is a tradition as in all other cultures as the vampire is the DNA of almost all cultural DNA.
So, in general, this is a well put together anthology the selection of stories is top notch even my least favorite of the stories had something to grasp on to. There were a few neat touches in the contributors' bios there were random characters from various important Vampire like Van Helsing and Robert Neville of I Am Legend. That was a fun touch. The stories all have excellent translations, that help bring out a Japanese feel despite being in English. The stories range from the early 20th Century to modern with two excellent essays on the impact of Vampire fiction in Japan. Those essays totally sold me on several of those novels and I Kurodahan brings us some of those - I mean Bloodlines of Stone sounds amazing, and the idea of Japanese feminist Vampire novel in Ephemera the Vampire by Mariko Ohara sounds fascinating.
The only weakness here are minor but things that could have really strengthened the book for me. One of my favorite stories in the collection was the odd story One Legged Woman by Okamoto Kido. By reading the bio in the back of the book I learned he was an early 20th-century playwright who was an actual Samurai early in his life. I started to think that I needed just a little more information with each story. Even just having the year of publication with the title would have given more context. I think I would enjoy having the bio with the title page of each story.
That is a minor detail I loved this book, besides the One-Legged Woman my other favorites the bizarro The Husk Heir by Kaijo Shinji, whose Science Fiction novels I really want to check out, and the cosmic "Crimson Cloak" by the Japanese Lovecraftian master Asamatsu Ken. Each story brought something. I think this is a must-read for serious vampire fiction fans, but also for readers who want to read speculative and horror fiction from other cultures. Kurodahan Press delivers another important cross-cultural bridge in the form of super entertaining vampire tales. Big thumbs up!
As the author of a novel about Chinese vampires (my 2011 release Hunting The Moon Tribe), I have read and researched much about Chinese Vampires. I love hopping Chinese vampire movies but bloodsuckers from the island of Japan and their writers is something I was not familiar with. I assumed there is a tradition as in all other cultures as the vampire is the DNA of almost all cultural DNA.
So, in general, this is a well put together anthology the selection of stories is top notch even my least favorite of the stories had something to grasp on to. There were a few neat touches in the contributors' bios there were random characters from various important Vampire like Van Helsing and Robert Neville of I Am Legend. That was a fun touch. The stories all have excellent translations, that help bring out a Japanese feel despite being in English. The stories range from the early 20th Century to modern with two excellent essays on the impact of Vampire fiction in Japan. Those essays totally sold me on several of those novels and I Kurodahan brings us some of those - I mean Bloodlines of Stone sounds amazing, and the idea of Japanese feminist Vampire novel in Ephemera the Vampire by Mariko Ohara sounds fascinating.
The only weakness here are minor but things that could have really strengthened the book for me. One of my favorite stories in the collection was the odd story One Legged Woman by Okamoto Kido. By reading the bio in the back of the book I learned he was an early 20th-century playwright who was an actual Samurai early in his life. I started to think that I needed just a little more information with each story. Even just having the year of publication with the title would have given more context. I think I would enjoy having the bio with the title page of each story.
That is a minor detail I loved this book, besides the One-Legged Woman my other favorites the bizarro The Husk Heir by Kaijo Shinji, whose Science Fiction novels I really want to check out, and the cosmic "Crimson Cloak" by the Japanese Lovecraftian master Asamatsu Ken. Each story brought something. I think this is a must-read for serious vampire fiction fans, but also for readers who want to read speculative and horror fiction from other cultures. Kurodahan Press delivers another important cross-cultural bridge in the form of super entertaining vampire tales. Big thumbs up!
March 19, 2020
Vampiric: Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan
Various
Anthologies are always tricky, especially themed ones rather than author or genre centric ones. This collection of Japanese vampire stories is interesting as a cultural artifact reflecting perceptions and interpretations of the myth try might not be familiar to Western audiences.
As stories that are fun, scary, good or whatever, it's hit and miss.
There are some spectacular stories in here.
A Piece of Butterfly’s Wing, written by Kamon Nanami, and translated by Angus Turvill, won the 2011 Kurodahan translation prize and is beautiful. The story is haunting and subtle, while the translation perfectly balances elegance with the grotesque.
ASAMATSU Ken's The Crimson Cloak, translated by Aragorn Quinn, interprets the vampire myth wholely into the Japanese milieu, complete with a basis in Buddhist ontology and morality.
The other stories bounce between interesting and ridiculous, but do reward the reader curious about the Japanese take on bloodsuckers.
Oh, and for scholars, the introduction and initial essay are must reads!
Various
Anthologies are always tricky, especially themed ones rather than author or genre centric ones. This collection of Japanese vampire stories is interesting as a cultural artifact reflecting perceptions and interpretations of the myth try might not be familiar to Western audiences.
As stories that are fun, scary, good or whatever, it's hit and miss.
There are some spectacular stories in here.
A Piece of Butterfly’s Wing, written by Kamon Nanami, and translated by Angus Turvill, won the 2011 Kurodahan translation prize and is beautiful. The story is haunting and subtle, while the translation perfectly balances elegance with the grotesque.
ASAMATSU Ken's The Crimson Cloak, translated by Aragorn Quinn, interprets the vampire myth wholely into the Japanese milieu, complete with a basis in Buddhist ontology and morality.
The other stories bounce between interesting and ridiculous, but do reward the reader curious about the Japanese take on bloodsuckers.
Oh, and for scholars, the introduction and initial essay are must reads!
July 12, 2023
An interesting selection of vampire stories from Japan. It's fun to see how the authors interpret and use the vampire in a japanese/east asian setting. Some of the stories are clearly inspired by western vampire works, like in "Birth of a Vampire" where the vampire is a mostly-lesbian woman named Camilla (a clear reference to Le Fanu's Carmilla) and also "The Stone Castle" which almost felt like a (really vague) reinterpretation of Dracula but with samurajis instead. Anthologies are always a mixed bag but there were a few stories that I really enjoyed such as "The Husk Heir" (like, vampire mosquitoes? Hell yes?) and "A Piece of Butterfly's Wing" which had a strange and sad atmosphere to it that made it stand out from the other works in this collection. I would definitely love to further explore the world of japanese vampires if I find any translations of other works.
The included essay by Shimokuso Masaya - "A Cultural Dynasty of Beautiful Vampires: Japan's Acceptance, Modifications and Adaptions of Vampires" - was also very helpful in giving some context for some of the stories and also to give a general idea of what japanese vampires are like.
The fiften stories included are:
Blue Lady by Inoue Masahiko (trans. Neil Webb) *
Kingdom by Asukabe Katsunori (trans. Laura Woolley Dominquez)
The Stone Castle by Kikuchi Hideyuki (trans. Jonathan Bunt)
The One-Legged Woman by Okamoto Kido (trans. Neil Webb)
Vampire by Hikage Jokichi (trans. Jo Ash)
The Crimson Cloak by Asamatsu Ken (trans. Aragorn Quinn)
Vow by Sunaga Asahiko (trans. Irit Weinberg)
The Husk Heir by Kajio Shinji (trans. Ben Cagan) *
A Piece of Butterfly's Wing by Kamon Nanami (trans. Angus Turvill) *
Unnatural by Okuda Tetsuya (trans. Hayley Scanlon)
Paradise Missing by Iino Fumihiko (trans. Lucy Galbraith)
Dracula's House by Fukuzawa Tetsuzo (trans. Irit Weinberg)
Birth of a Vampire by Konaka Chiaki (trans. Lauren Barrett) *
Halvires by Mikawa Yu (trans. Jonathan Bunt)
Parasol by Inoue Masahiko (trans. Yan Yijun)
* My favorites
The included essay by Shimokuso Masaya - "A Cultural Dynasty of Beautiful Vampires: Japan's Acceptance, Modifications and Adaptions of Vampires" - was also very helpful in giving some context for some of the stories and also to give a general idea of what japanese vampires are like.
The fiften stories included are:
Blue Lady by Inoue Masahiko (trans. Neil Webb) *
Kingdom by Asukabe Katsunori (trans. Laura Woolley Dominquez)
The Stone Castle by Kikuchi Hideyuki (trans. Jonathan Bunt)
The One-Legged Woman by Okamoto Kido (trans. Neil Webb)
Vampire by Hikage Jokichi (trans. Jo Ash)
The Crimson Cloak by Asamatsu Ken (trans. Aragorn Quinn)
Vow by Sunaga Asahiko (trans. Irit Weinberg)
The Husk Heir by Kajio Shinji (trans. Ben Cagan) *
A Piece of Butterfly's Wing by Kamon Nanami (trans. Angus Turvill) *
Unnatural by Okuda Tetsuya (trans. Hayley Scanlon)
Paradise Missing by Iino Fumihiko (trans. Lucy Galbraith)
Dracula's House by Fukuzawa Tetsuzo (trans. Irit Weinberg)
Birth of a Vampire by Konaka Chiaki (trans. Lauren Barrett) *
Halvires by Mikawa Yu (trans. Jonathan Bunt)
Parasol by Inoue Masahiko (trans. Yan Yijun)
* My favorites
January 25, 2023
As a Castlevania fan, I was immediately drawn towards this book by the cover art. However, the short stories within this collection are rather disappointing. The only ones worth mentioning are The Crimson Cloak, The Husk Heir, and Paradise Missing, that had somewhat bizarre imagery, but nothing I would consider as horror. Birth of a Vampire had potential GL elements, but ended with a very WTF moment. Overall, it just wasn't what I was expecting, so not recommended.
October 30, 2025
An interesting collection that shows the range of styles with which Japanese authors have made the vampire myth theirs. The collection starts with a great overview of the arrival of the vampire myth to Japan and its evolution there. The following stories show the different approaches taken to situate the vampires in Japan and the playfulness with which it can be melded into Japanese history and mythology.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews