er. Certain animals were thought to be able to
transform themselves and cause mischief for humans.

[1] O-jochu ("honorable damsel"), a polite form of address used in
speaking to a young lady whom one does not know.

(2) An apparition with a smooth, totally featureless face, called a
"nopperabo," is a stock part of the Japanese pantheon of ghosts and
demons.

[2] Soba is a preparation of buckwheat, somewhat resembling vermicelli.

(3) An exclamation of annoyed alarm.

(4) Well!

ROKURO-KUBI

[1] The period of Eikyo lasted from 1429 to 1441.

[2] The upper robe of a Buddhist priest is thus called.

(1) Present-day Yamanashi Prefecture.

(2) A term for itinerant priests.

[3] A sort of little fireplace, contrived in the floor of a room, is
thus described. The ro is usually a square shallow cavity, lined with
metal and half-filled with ashes, in which charcoal is lighted.

(3) Direct translation of "suzumushi," a kind of cricket with a
distinctive chirp like a tiny bell, whence the name.

(4) Now a rokuro-kubi is ordinarily conceived as a goblin whose neck
stretches out to great lengths, but which nevertheless always remains
attached to its body.

(5) A Chinese collection of stories on the supernatural.

[4] A present made to friends or to the household on returning from a
journey is thus called. Ordinarily, of course, the miyage consists of
something produced in the locality to which the journey has been made:
this is the point of Kwairyo's jest.

(6) Present-day Nagano Prefecture.

A DEAD SECRET

(1) On the present-day map, Tamba corresponds roughly to the central
area of Kyoto Prefecture and part of Hyogo Prefecture.

[1] The Hour of the Rat (Ne-no-Koku), according to the old Japanese
method of reckoning time, was the first hour. It corresponded to the
time between our midnight and two o'clock in the morning; for the
ancient Japanese hours were each equal to two modern hours.

[2] Kaimyo, the posthumous Buddhist name, or religious name, given to
the dead. Strictly speaking, the meaning of the work is sila-name. (See
my paper entitled, "The Literature of the Dead" in Exotics and
Retrospectives.)

YUKI-ONNA

(1) An ancient province whose boundaries took in most of present-day
Tokyo, and parts of Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures.

[1] That is to say, with a floor-surface of about six feet square.

[2] This name, signifying "Snow," is not uncommon. On the subject of