Nagai, Go : Japanese horror manga creator (b. 1945). Pioneer of shonen manga and creator Devilman, a human-devil hybrid who fights against devils. Kadokawa published one of his earlier works, Kireta Ito (Out of Thread?) as part of its Horror Bunko series, saying it contained the “essence of horror.” Originally famous for the quintessential giant robot series, UFO Robot Grandizer, Nagai expanded his career exploring taboos and running headlong into controversial subjects.
In Devilman, the hot-headed Fudo Akira discovers that his father left him a strange legacy. He is part demon. To kill a demon, one must become a demon and Akira finds that he needs this power so that he and his friend Asuka Ryo can save the human race. It seems that demons have been lying dormant under the Earth’s polar ice for centuries and now they returning to reclaim the world. Only Akira, with his demon blood, has the power to kill demons.
The concept of impurity permeates modern horror culture, and Devilman is a prime example. Pure of heart, Akira must quell the impure demon blood within him to defend mankind. The impurity turns men into monsters, makes them unable to lead normal lives, and Akira must sacrifice his normal life for the sake of all. He shuns Miki, a girl who loves him, to save her from grief, though he often puts her and his family in danger.
His other manga titles include Cutey Honey, Hanappe Bazooka, Violence Jack, and Shuten Doji. In the latter, Jiro Shutendo, like the hero of Devilman, finds that he has a demonic
ancestry. In this case, he is a
full-bloodied Oni left behind by his
biological parents to be raise by a normal, human family. The Oni return to reclaim their abandoned
child and Jiro’s girlfriend tags along with them.
Nakagami, Kenji : Japanese mainstream short fiction writer (b 1946). His short story collection, Snakelust (tr. Andrew Rankin), contains “A Tale of a Demon,” a horror tale using a traditional demon with modern language. The protagonist, simply labeled “a ruffian”, encounters a demon in the form of a beautiful young women. She lures him to the Chunagon Asanar, the House of Demons. She explains that Chunagon was a vengeful ghost who became a demon. The ruffian falls in love with her and she asks if he would still love her if she were a demon. He answers “yes” giving her a free rein.
The ruffian describes a demon as having “skin as black as lacquer, but wrinkled like dead grass and gnarled in places with hard lumps.” He goes on to say the demon’s eyes like golden bowls and its mouth is full of “saber-like teeth.” This image set in the reader’s mind early in the story, so when the girl transforms into a demon, only the reaction of the ruffian is given. This is a typical horror story device, to show the reaction of the terrified rather than the cause of terror.
The story also uses the story-within-a story device. The ruffian is seeking to slay a demon to establish his reputation, but he cannot find it. Asleep, he dreams of unsuccessfully searching for the demon.
The stories in Snakelust are indexed in the Locus Index to Science Fiction. “Collection of seven stories, several with ghosts, demons and visions.” The theme of the outsider recurs throughout Nakagami’s work.
Nakai, Takushi : Japanese writer known for Left Hand, actually a disembodied left arm that attacks human beings. It is the dreadful result of a virus produced by genetic engineering so this fits into the biological horrors genre so popular internationally. In spite of its grotesque subject, the author has a strange sense of humor, perhaps even a satiric take of Kawabata’s strange short story “The Arm” in which a girl loans her arm to her lonely boyfriend. This is also reminiscent of Parasyte, which like Left Hand won a literary prize. In Parasyte, the hero calls his alien-infected right hand “Migi” (“Righty”) which got changed to “Lefty” in the flopped English version of the manga!
Nakajima, Atsushi : Japanese writer (1909-42). His life tragically shortened by asthma, Nakajima’s small output of 17 short stories and a few novels received critical acclaim in Japan. His writing broke away from the “I-novel” tradition that dominated Japanese literature in the 1920’s and 30’s.
His story, “The Mummy,” is his sole foray into the supernatural. Set in ancient Egypt, it is a historically accurate tale of reincarnation and possession that would be right at home in Weird Tales. The main character, Pariscus, is an officer in the Persian army of Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great.
The Persian army successfully invaded Egypt in 525 BC and sacked the city of Memphis. While searching for a hidden Egyptian ruler, Pariscus wanders off alone into an underground vault. In the dim tomb, he sees the scattered implements and opened coffins in disarray. He sees a “large statute of a hawk-headed god,” and on the wall is a “gloomy procession of gods with the heads of jackals, crocodiles, herons, and other grotesque beasts.” The strangest apparition comes next: “a huge faceless, trunkless eye, sprouting slender arms and legs.”
Then he sees the mummy. He tries to look away but he locks eyes with the withered corpse. He feels his own body “violently bubbling and boiling beneath his skin.” He has a series of hallucinations of his previous life as the high priest of Ptah in ancient Egypt. At one point, he feels that his soul has entered the mummy. Unable to leave, his men find him the following day, alive but only able to speak an old Egyptian dialect.
Of course, Egypt and mummies have long been the subject of horror writer’s dating back to Poe’s humorous “Some Words with a Mummy” (1850) about the electrical revivification of an Egyptian mummy, followed by the seminal works of Stoker, Lovecraft, and many others. Lovecraft’s well known quotation about the importance of atmosphere in weird tale well applies to Nakajima’s tale. It is a shame he did not live to write more.
Nakajima, Kawataro
: Japanese author (b. 1917). He wrote Gendai kaiki shosetsu shu in 1974. Ishiro Honda filmed one of his short stories as Varan the Unbelievable (Toho 1958)..
Nakamura, Itoko :
Japanese novelist. She is the author of
Aino Bourei (Love’s Ghost, or less
accurately Empire of Passion) which
was filmed in 1978 by director Ōshima Nagisa. An erotic thriller with a strong suggestion of the supernatural,
it is not to be confused with the Ōshima’s masterpiece In the Realm of the Senses.
Nakata Hideo : Japanese film director. Noted for The Ring, The Ring 2 and Ghost Actress, his interview in the American magazine, Fangoria, revealed a man of artistic sensibilities and insight unexpected by skeptical American readers.
Nakayama, Ichiro : Japanese writer, supernatural story collector, occult researcher and assistant film directory. Director of TV show Hyakumonogatari which solicited personal experiences with ghosts.
Nang Nak : Thai
ghost story film, based on a Thai folk legend about a wandering spirit, the
devoted wife Nak and her equally devoted husband, Mak. It takes place in 1869 Siam. The movie was a hit in Thailand but failed
to catch on elsewhere, though it did draw some attention at international film
festivals.
Napier, Susan : Author of The Fantastic in Modern Japanese Literature, one of the few works available in English that covers Japanese fantasy. She does not have much affinity for horror, with the possible exception of her praise for the manga and movie versions of Akira.
Natsume, Soseki : Modern Japanese novelist (1867-1916). Though noted for his realism, he departed into the poetic with his work, Ten Nights of Dream (1908). In the first dream, the narrator's loved one dies telling him that she will return to see him if he waits 100 years by her graveside. Beautiful, intensely poetic imagery puts the reader inside the dream, while the narrator buries the dead woman and waits. The ending is like a startled awakening.
In the third night’s dream, the narrator has the shocking revelation that he committed a terrible crime, a 100 years ago. The same dream-like tone lulls the reader in complacency until jarred awake by the blunt truth.
Nazoraeru
: In "The Mirror and the
Bell," Lafcadio Hearn describes this form of Japanese magic. The word is a verb that means to imitate or
to use one's imagination to change one object into another. This resembles mimetic or representational
magic, such as voodoo where the poppet represents the human victim. The Japanese carry this type of magic to an
extreme. For example, a pebble and a
drip of water could represent an island in the sea. The concentration of the adept magician makes it so.
Necromancer : A sorcerer who conjures the spirits of the dead to acquire information. This type of adept often appears in Asian occult lore. In the Liaozhai tale, “Magic Arts,” the protagonist consults a necromancer when is under psychic attack. In the classic Korean novel, The Story of Hong Gil-Dong, the jealous Gogsan consulted a necromancer about eliminating Minister Hong’s illegitimate son, Gil-Dong.
Note: In the Naxi language, “Dongba” means “necromancer” or “scripture reader.”
Ngai, Hong : Chinese pulp writer. He is a scriptwriter of Hong Kong action films who sometimes adds supernatural elements . One example is his A Tale from the East which features time travel, a disembodied head, and a Blood Demon.
Nikobo : A Japanese sorcerer of ancient legend. He cured a high official of a psychic disease but the official had him executed to avoid paying him. He returned as a ball of flame that nested in a tree outside the official’s home. Nikobo’s face was said to be visible inside the ball. The official died mysteriously and the ball of flame disappeared.
Nikōbo : Nikōbo was a priest in the Settsu province who was famous for his exorcisms. His anger at an ungrateful official caused him to turn into an apparition of ghostly fire that still haunts the district.
Ninjutsu : According to Addiss, a form of Japanese sorcery, but generally a form of esoteric Japanese martial arts connected to ninpo and ninja. Like other esoteric teachings, it taught some techniques that could be interpreted as invocation of spirits or having supernatural abilities such as invisibility. Some concepts appear in the popular culture much more than in the murky and ancient historical data on this subject.
Nisan, Takashi : Japanese
writer of the original Gamera story, "Daikaiju Gamera" ("Great
Monster Gamera").
Nishimura, Toshiyuki : Japanese horror writer (b. 1930). He is author of Kami no misaki (God’s Cape, 1978).
Nishitani, Aya
: Japanese horror novelist. She is the author of Kioku (Memories), a “hyper-horror” novel taking place in a women’s
college history department and also Tokyo
Shadow Story.
She also wrote Digital Devil, a novel (pub. Tokuma Shoten) about an obsessed computer genius, Akemi, who summons a devil, Roki, from his computer. Roki wreaks havoc on his high school. Being a computer demon, it can pop up anywhere and cause trouble. T Kiseki made this story into an anime (Digital Devil, Story - A Goddess Reborn, 1987) available in English.
Nitanosa, Nakaba : Japanese wirter (b. 1907). Author of Nihon no yureibanashi. (Japanese Ghost Stories, 1971).
Noa, Aka : Japanese science fiction writer. He wrote a Cthulhu mythos story, “Daurma-san ga koronda Shoukougun” (“Mr. Daruma’s Syndrome”, 1999).
Nobuo, Uno : Japanese novelist (b. 1904). Nippon Television’s movie DokuroDuma no Kai (Terror of the Skeleton Wife) was based on one of his books. He also wrote a book of ghost stories Kaidan chibusaenoki (1973).
Nopperabō : Strange, blubbery, jelly creature from Japanese lore.
