Reflecting the Human Heart on a Night of the Supernatural: Ueda Akinari, 1734–1809

Ueda Akinari, born in Osaka in 1734, was a scholar of Japanese classics and an author of popular story collections. His masterpiece, *Ugetsu Monogatari*, was completed in 1768 and published in 1776. This masterpiece of early popular fiction, consisting of nine stories centered on strange tales and supernatural phenomena, draws on Chinese novels and Japanese classics to depict human obsession, love, betrayal, and thoughts of the deceased. The National Institute of Japanese Literature also regards *Ugetsu Monogatari* as a representative work of early popular fiction. Publications featuring Ueda Akinari were introduced as advertisements, indicating that his supernatural literature was being re-examined as early as the 1970s. In the magazine, Ueda Akinari’s name was prominently featured in a special supplement titled *Modern Poetry Notebook*, offering a glimpse into a publishing culture that reevaluated Edo-period literature from a contemporary perspective. Shūsei left behind not only *Ugetsu Monogatari* but also *Harusame Monogatari* and *Tan-dai Shōshinroku*. He was a writer who maintained a sharp critical spirit until his later years, moving back and forth between classical scholarship and creative writing, and who continued to depict human emotions and social contradictions beyond the realm of the supernatural.