On moonlit nights in the ancient capital, paper lanterns cast a red glow over the latticed streets, and a hundred demons awaken in the shadows of Kyoto's townhouses. Set in Kyoto, this short-story collection weaves a hundred bizarre and bewitching tales: beneath Sanjo Bridge, the Bridge Princess's drifting hair tangles with the obsessions of the drowned; deep within Fushimi Inari's thousand vermilion torii gates lies the scarlet wedding robe of the Fox Bride; and through the night mist on the Kamo River's banks, a Rain Woman wanders, the ribs of her umbrella dripping tears shed four hundred years ago. A tailor's Tang-style robe sprouts a human face after being stained with blood, sutras at the top of a five-storied pagoda transform into a Hannya that devours moonlight, and the flames of the Blue Lantern lick at the storyteller's tongue, tasting forbidden words. When the hundredth lantern goes out, you'll hear a laugh like silk tearing from behind the folding screen.
