Set in ancient Japan, Natsuhiko Kyogoku's chilling series interweaves tales of karma and retribution with supernatural tricksters and spirits. In The Bean Washer , a Buddhist priest traveling deep in the mountains gets caught in a storm late at night and encounters the Mendicant, a mysterious figure who guides him to a ramshackle hut. There, a group of stranded fellow travelers decide to swap ghost stories to pass the night. But the gathering takes on a sinister twist when secrets of unpunished past deeds are brought to light.

Set in ancient Japan, Natsuhiko Kyogoku's chilling series interweaves tales of karma and retribution with supernatural tricksters and spirits. In The Fox Priest , a trapper with a dark secret and ties to Edo's criminal underworld finds himself sucked ever deeper into a world halfway between dreams and reality, where foxes assume human guise and truth and folklore converge. The Mendicant returns with his trio of assistants to punish those beyond the reach of the law by luring them into a trap of their own making.

Set in ancient Japan, Natsuhiko Kyogoku's chilling series interweaves tales of karma and retribution with supernatural tricksters and spirits. In The Flying Heads, when local authorities refuse to act, the Mendicant steps in to help the residents of a small Izu town being terrorized by a serial rapist. An outlaw, a crime boss, a wandering ronin, and a corrupt official are caught in a web of retribution resonating with echoes of an ancient legend, but not everything is as it seems.

Set in ancient Japan, Natsuhiko Kyogoku's chilling series interweaves tales of karma and retribution with supernatural tricksters and spirits. In Shibaemon the Raccoon-Dog, the leader of a famed traveling puppet troupe on the island of Awaji is asked by his feudal lord to take a mysterious guest into his house, little suspecting where it will lead. Art imitates life in this horrific tale involving a shape-shifting raccoon-dog, a serial murderer, and a young samurai with ties to Japan’s ruling clan.

Set in ancient Japan, Natsuhiko Kyogoku's chilling series interweaves tales of karma and retribution with supernatural tricksters and spirits. In The Corpse at the Crossroads, the Mendicant joins forces with a Kyoto criminal gang to try to discover what is behind the appearance of a succession of decomposing female corpses at a busy crossroads just outside the ancient capital, a spot associated with a ghostly legend. The Mendicant must come to grips with a Buddhist parable about the impermanence of all things and confront his own fears about death before solving this perplexing and disturbing riddle.