Kaidan or Japanese horror stories, this can be a very interesting subject to discuss. After all, horror stories are part of everyone’s life, especially in childhood. But in Japan, Kaidan does not aim to frighten or scare people, but rather has another purpose. Curious, isn’t it?
Horror stories exist in every country, whether that is a good or bad thing. Some aim for a greater good, instilling fear in children so they do not disobey their parents is one example. Others focus on making money, which is the current film market.
In the culture of each people, it is normal for horror stories to be associated with religions. Lucifer is an example of the personification of evil in Christian religions. Just as Ragnarök is the event that will bring chaos and destruction, according to Norse mythology.
Along with these horror stories, there are urban legends that are also a specific genre within horror. Urban legends started a long time ago, the tales of the Brothers Grimm were the first to be circulated throughout Europe and then to the world.
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Kaidan – Some useful information
While in our Western culture, horror tales have a single format – except for the urban legends which have their own name –, Japanese horror tales have a defined name: kaidan.
Despite being very confusing, the term should not be used to refer to j-horror, nor to traditional Western tales. The term kaidan, in Japanese, is written with the kanjis: kai and dan. Kai means mysterious or rare and dan means spoken or recited narrative.
Some films like Ring (1998) are not an example of kaidan. Why is that? Simple, the film is nothing more than a cinematic adaptation of a horror book. In case you didn’t know, it is the inspiration for the directors of “The Ring”, as it is known here in Brazil.
Unlike Western stories, the genre does not aim to scare people or frighten them. The intention is to narrate strange things that once happened, which can happen to be something dreadful.
Kaidan in Japanese culture
Kaidan is one of the genres that persisted in Japan during the early years of Japanese literature history. It was during the Edo period that there was the greatest appreciation for Japanese art and culture in Japan’s history.
An example of a story in this genre is “The Plate Mansion in Bancho.” The story takes place a long time ago and depicts the – unjust – death of a servant, who returns in the form of a ghost – or yurei as a ghost is called in Japan – to haunt the living. In other words, these are quite common stories, but with different meanings.
However, despite being stories with known plots, even predictable, what lies behind is greater than that. The vast majority of Japanese people follow Buddhism, which influences the elements depicted in the plot of kaidan.
Buddhists believe a lot in what they call karma. It would be, basically, an analogy with the law of cause and effect: for every action, there is a fruit and there is a result. This concept is the foundation of Buddhism. And this fruit, or result, reflects in the current life or in the afterlife.
When the tale involves ghosts, the chance of reading something about revenge is enormous. There is a Japanese belief that yurei exist due to the feeling of revenge present in the body.
Do you know any Kaidan?
Before finishing, it is interesting to note that tales of the kaidan style have references to the water element. Because in Japanese belief, water is the pathway to the underworld.
But anyway, Kaidan is also part of a type of Japanese game. The game is basically of the same type as those for summoning spirits and demons or something similar here in the West. Where you have to perform a kind of ritual to play the game. I won’t go into details as it would be unnecessary.
Unfortunately, we did not include any Kaidan here in the article, but if you know any, please share it in the comments, it would be interesting. And of course, don’t forget to share the article and the site on social media.
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