Kaidan

Kaidan (怪談; sometimes transliterated kwaidan) is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 (kai) meaning 'strange, mysterious, rare, or bewitching apparition' and 談 (dan) meaning 'talk' or 'recited narrative'. In its broadest sense, kaidan refers to any ghost story or horror story, but it has an old-fashioned ring to it that carries the connotation of Edo period Japanese folktales. The roots of Edo period kaidan stories originate from the Jiandeng Xinhua(剪燈新話), a book of stories from the Ming Dynasty in China. The term kaidan is no longer as widely used in Japanese as it once was: Japanese horror books and films would more likely be labeled by the katakana horā (ホラー; 'horror'). Kaidan is used to give an old-fashioned air to the story.