HEBIONNA

Twelve Japanese legends of the serpent yokai, retold as complete English horror stories.

In Japanese folklore, the serpent is never only an animal. It is the god in the night rain, the wife who must not be watched, the debt that waits a lifetime — and the promise that outlives whoever made it.

A hunter kills one snake of a mated pair and tells the village which one he will take next. A bride asks her night-visiting husband to show her his face by daylight. In a snow village in Kaga, a temple crowd still makes room for someone no one has ever seen.