This is a very nice tale from Japan that is quite appropriate for the Halloween season for kids about age seven and up. This is just a quick excerpt from the beginning of the story
As Prof. Clay mentioned, a scholar collected scary Japanese stories, and there are many. Amazon mentions: "...Lafcadio Hearn (a.k.a. Yakumo Koizumi, 1850-1904), who assimilated into Japanese culture so thoroughly that his writings reveal no evidence of Western influence..."
I just ordered Kwaidan, a 1965 film based on four of the stories he wrote about. Note the awards and glowing comments. It's hard to find good horror films these days!
http://www.amazon.com/Kwaidan-Criterion-Collection-Rentarô-Mikuni/dp/B00004W3HF/ref=wl_it_dp_o_piT1_S_nC?ie=UTF8&coliid=I25OI9NELWQOM3&colid=1YRP23QGAJ3I6
BTW, the narrator, William Hurt , is a very great actor, though not as popular as he was twenty years ago. He never was the eye candy audiences seem to demand these days, but has a very strong intellectual appeal, and interesting from our angle is that he is the step-grandson of Clare Booth Luce--one of the most complex, fascinating, sometimes contradictory, and accomplished women of her time.
Her husband, Henry Luce, was born in China to missionary parents. Clare was a Republican elected to the House of Representatives back in the 40's (quite an accomplishment for a woman in those days), and according to Wikipedia, "...[font=sans-serif]To help the nation meet its rising war costs, she advocated 'taxing the rich almost to the point of constitutional confiscation.'[/font][font=sans-serif] She called for repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, comparing its 'doctrine of race theology' to Adolf Hitler's[/font]][font=sans-serif], advocated aid for war victims abroad..." This is only the start. Her biography is very well worth the read![/font]
[font=sans-serif]Here's a speech she delivered on China's Independence Day:[/font]
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/post-war/1945-10-09a.html