In "Hyakumonogatari," a 1911 novella by the great author and translator Ogai Mori, the protagonist explains that its title refers to a traditional way of telling ghost stories, saying: "In hyakumonogatari (meaning '100 tales'), people gather together and arrange 100 candles. Each person tells a ghost story, and then extinguishes a candle, and this continues one by one. According to legend, after the 100th candle is put out, a real ghost will appear."
To prevent a ghost appearing, those present must stop once they've heard the 99th scary story.
It is this pattern on which the stage-performance series "Kayoko Shiraishi's Hyakumonogatari Series" has been based. In the 22 years since the project began, the actress Kayoko Shiraishi has performed beautifully written "scary stories," from ancient classics to contemporary works by Haruki Murakami, in recitations — if that's the right word for these stagings to which she brings the full range of her extraordinary theatrical expertise.