HITOKUI

Twenty Japanese tales of man-eaters — and of the moment when hunger stops being human.

A woman who never eats is watched at last. A traveller accepts one mouthful too many. A voice behind stone bargains with a king. An oni returns for the arm taken from it. A dead priest discovers that death has not ended his hunger.

These are not twenty versions of the same monster. The eater may be an oni, a yamauba, a hungry ghost, an animal in human shape, a holy man, a ruler, or someone welcomed into the house. Sometimes a person is eaten. Sometimes the horror lies in realizing how narrowly the meal was avoided.