Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe, "Supernatural Japan: Izumi Kyoka and the Global Fantastic" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

Mar 18, 2026

Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe, Assistant Professor of Japanese at Purdue University and author of Supernatural Japan, explores Izumi Kyōka’s role in shaping modern Japanese fantastic fiction. He traces landscapes, kusazōshi influences, hidden Western sources like Mérimée and Maupassant, and explains his 'global fantastic' framing. The conversation also covers integrating images into analysis and future research on Japanese fantastic writers.

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INSIGHT

Izumi Kyoka As Founder Of Modern Japanese Fantasy

Izumi Kyoka is a founding figure of modern Japanese fantastic literature rather than merely a traditionalist revivalist.
Pedro Bassoe argues Kyoka forged a modern gensou bungaku distinct from premodern ghost tales by mixing adventure, fantasy, and modern sensibilities.

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INSIGHT

Real Japanese Landscapes Made Strange

Kyoka sets fantastic stories in identifiable modern Japanese landscapes rather than wholly invented worlds.
He repurposes real central Honshu locations and mountainous, rainy atmospheres (e.g., Kanazawa to Tokyo region) to make them feel uncanny.

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ANECDOTE

Kyoka's Kusazoshi Collection Sparked Strange Imagery

Kyoka collected and drew inspiration from kusazoshi, premodern illustrated 'grass books' that blend images and text like early comic books.
Bassoe describes kusazoshi examples such as Shiranui Monogatari with spider-summoning protagonists that shaped Kyoka's imagery.

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Pedro’s background and research focus

02:20 • 50sec

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Why Pedro chose Izumi Kyōka

03:09 • 3min

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Landscapes and settings in Kyōka’s work

06:20 • 3min

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Kusazōshi and pre-modern influences

09:23 • 4min

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The 'global fantastic' framing

12:54 • 43sec

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Integrating images into literary analysis

13:37 • 11sec

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Hidden foreign influences on Kyōka

13:48 • 5min

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Discovery of Prosper Mérimée references

Mérimée's appeal to Kyōka

21:45 • 5min

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Maupassant: evidence and comparison

26:45 • 5min

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Emotive, modern elements in both authors

31:16 • 21sec

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Pedro’s future research directions

Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History

Rhonda K. Garelick

This book delves into Coco Chanel's life, from her humble beginnings to her rise as a fashion icon. It explores how her understanding of social realities and cultural currents contributed to her success and enduring influence. The biography also examines her controversial personal life and political involvements.

Ugetsu Monogatari

Tales of Moonlight and Rain

Ueda Akinari (often associated)

Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain), often linked to Ueda Akinari, is a seminal collection of supernatural stories from the late 18th century that had a lasting impact on Japanese literature. Its melancholic, ghostly tales combine moral reflection with eerie atmosphere, employing classical language and motifs that became templates for later writers. Pedro Bassoe references it to show how Izumi Kyōka adopted certain traditional frames (monk, mysterious woman, mountain settings) while diverging into more modern psychological and erotic territory. The anthology's stylistic and thematic legacy is crucial to understanding continuities and breaks in Japan's literary fantastic tradition.

Tales of Moonlight and Rain

Ugetsu Monogatari

Classical Japanese authors (compiled)

Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) is a celebrated anthology of supernatural stories from the late 18th century, often associated with Ueda Akinari, and a cornerstone of Japan's classical literature of the uncanny. The collection features atmospheric tales of spirits, love, and moral lessons set in historical contexts, influencing later writers and the broader cultural imagination of ghosts in Japan. Pedro Bassoe references it to show how Izumi Kyōka both draws on and diverges from pre-modern narrative frames while producing a distinct modern fantastic. Its stories typically employ classical prose and evoke moonlit, rain-drenched settings that underscore the eerie and melancholic mood. The anthology remains widely studied for its stylistic refinement and its role in the development of Japanese supernatural fiction.

The Grass Labyrinth

Izumi Kyōka

The Grass Labyrinth is among Izumi Kyōka's celebrated supernatural tales, notable for its evocative landscapes and blending of psychological and fantastical elements. Kyōka uses vivid description and a liminal setting to create unease and wonder, often situating uncanny events within recognizably modern Japanese locales. Bassoe cites the story as part of Kyōka's core oeuvre that helped define Japan's modern fantastic tradition. The tale's interplay between the real and the uncanny showcases Kyōka's technique of using realistic epistemic frames to heighten the reader's sense of the supernatural. Its atmospheric style and thematic depth have made it a key text for scholars of Japanese fantasy literature.

The Castle Tower

Izumi Kyōka

The Castle Tower is a representative supernatural story by Izumi Kyōka that employs striking settings and gothic motifs to explore the uncanny within a modernizing Japan. Kyōka's narrative techniques blend evocative description with psychological intensity, producing an atmosphere of dread and wonder around the titular structure. Pedro Bassoe lists it among Kyōka's famous works that contributed to the development of modern Japanese fantastic literature. The story exemplifies Kyōka's interest in setting, landscape, and liminality, and is often studied for how it negotiates tradition and modernity in its treatment of the supernatural.

The Holy Man of Mt. Kōya

Izumi Kyōka

Izumi Kyōka's The Holy Man of Mt. Kōya is one of his most famous tales of the supernatural, centering on eerie encounters and otherworldly figures in a distinctly Japanese setting. The story exemplifies Kyōka's blend of modern narrative techniques with motifs drawn from older Japanese supernatural literature, producing evocative landscapes and uncanny events. It has been influential in shaping modern Japanese fantasy and is often cited as an early instance of the modern fantastic in Japan. The tale's atmosphere, mountain setting, and interplay between the realistic and the supernatural reflect Kyōka's larger thematic concerns. As an accessible entry point, it drew Pedro Bassoe into further study of Kyōka's oeuvre.

Matteo Falcone

Prosper Mérimée

Prosper Mérimée's Matteo Falcone is a concise, brutal tale about honor, revenge, and familial duty set in Corsica, notable for its vivid violence and moral ambiguity. Mérimée’s stories were among early European works translated into Japanese, shaping Japanese readers’ impressions of Western fiction during the Meiji period. The themes of intense emotion and dramatic action in Mérimée’s work resonated with writers like Izumi Kyōka, who admired his storytelling and read translations avidly. Matteo Falcone exemplifies Mérimée’s skill in compact, intense narratives that influenced global receptions of 19th-century French literature. Its translation history demonstrates the selective pathways through which European literature reached Japanese literary circles.

#13370

• Mentioned in 4 episodes

Carmen

Prosper Mérimée

Georges Bizets Oper "Carmen" erzählt die Geschichte der gleichnamigen Femme fatale, einer Zigeunerin, die sich nicht an gesellschaftliche Normen hält. Ihre leidenschaftliche und unabhängige Natur bringt sie in Konflikt mit dem Soldaten Don José, der sich in sie verliebt und schließlich an Eifersucht zugrunde geht. Carmen selbst wählt am Ende die Freiheit über die Liebe. Die Oper zeichnet sich durch ihre realistische Darstellung sozialer Schichten und ihre leidenschaftliche Musik aus, die bis heute Opernhäuser weltweit bereichert.

Supernatural Japan

Izumi Kyoka and the Global Fantastic

Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe

Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe's Supernatural Japan examines Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939) as a founding figure of modern Japanese literature of the fantastic. The book traces Kyōka’s incorporation of global influences—including European and other foreign writers—alongside Japanese pre-modern genres like kusazoshi. Bassoe develops the concept of the “scholarly fantastic” to show how realistic epistemologies in Kyōka’s work reinforce supernatural elements. The book offers close readings of Kyōka’s major stories and situates them within broader literary and transnational contexts. It serves as an up-to-date introduction for students and scholars interested in Japanese fantasy literature and media.

Supernatural Japan: Izumi Kyoka and the Global Fantastic (U Michigan Press, 2026)examines the role of Japanese writer Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939) in the formation of modern literature of the fantastic in Japan as a global literary genre. Kyōka wrote some of the most famous stories of ghosts, monsters, and the supernatural in modern Japanese literature, including The Holy Man of Mt. Kōya, The Grass Labyrinth, and The Castle Tower. Despite the clearly modernist elements and global influences of Kyōka’s fiction, his work has often been characterized as relying on traditional Japanese genres as inspiration for its themes and literary form. Pedro Bassoe considers how Kyōka’s stories have been produced by a meeting of global influences—including Apuleius, The Arabian Nights, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Prosper Mérimée, Guy de Maupassant, Gerhart Hauptmann, and Jules Verne—combined with traditional Japanese genres. Bassoe develops the notion of “the scholarly fantastic” to describe how a set of realistic epistemologies reinforce the fantastic in Kyōka’s writings. Supernatural Japan offers an up-to-date introduction to Izumi Kyōka and his writing for students, scholars, or fans of Japanese fantasy literature and media.

Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe is Assistant Professor of Japanese at Purdue University.

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