A completely new yokai story reinterpreted by Miyuki Miyabe

The man, who called himself the Gui-an Monk and believed he had the power of prophecy and healing, was handsome, had a good voice, and spoke kindly, making him especially popular with female customers.
The name of the group of thieves created by the wizard Gwi-an, who had a natural talent for deceiving people with obvious sorcery, while hanging out with gamblers and gangsters, was [Songjangdang].


At first, [Songjangdang] consistently committed petty theft without hurting anyone, but soon his methods became more brutal, and he resorted to murder, arson, and kidnapping women, turning the village into a mess.
However, [Songjangdang] did not know that a legendary monster called 'Kappa' lived in the pond of this village.
Breaking the unwritten rule of not showing oneself to the people, Kappa appears and plans to wipe out the bandits of [Songjangdang] together with the villagers, as if he were a military commander leading a war.

This work, which was written with the idea that young people would easily band together with strangers and commit evil deeds on social media, saying that they could "make easy money" (recently, in Japan, "dark part-time jobs" where young people are recruited online under the pretext of high-paying part-time jobs and are involved in crimes such as theft, robbery, and fraud have become a social problem), is the story of ordinary people who fight a group of bandits who commit brutal crimes with guns and swords, led by a kappa.

-Wow!
I was so surprised by the sensation that I took my finger away without realizing it.
The pebbles were slippery.
It was like a living thing.
It felt as if it was breathing, slightly swelling between Daikichi's fingers and then quickly shrinking.
-what's this.
--- p.227 From "The Handsome Man's Back"

--The face was skeletal.
--Like the dead, his limbs were white, and he wore a tattered, single garment made of katabira (?) silk or hemp, and he carried a mountain sword, a bow and a quiver on his back, and a spear and a short spear as he rode.
Amidst the moonless and starless night, a group of people who seemed out of this world ran through the wind, their hooves clattering loudly.
Moreover, it is said that the person at the very back of the group was waving a flag with the word 'corpse' written on it in large letters.
--- pp.265-266 From "The Handsome Man's Back"

There was a plate on top of the round head.
There is a well full of clean water there.
Even though the plate tilts slightly as he tilts his head to look at Migi and his party, the water does not overflow.
What kind of structure is it?
Its toes are also webbed, now spread flat and gripping the edge of the well.
The well water that was soaking the webbed feet flowed down, drawing lines one by one, two by two, along the edge of the well.
--- p.294 From "The Handsome Man's Back"

You bandits who have never farmed your fields diligently, you probably don't know, so I'll teach you.
A field cannot be created with just soil and seeds.
I need water.
Where there are fields, there must be a device to draw water.
In the case of Aramura Village, it is an irrigation canal.
Water is Sanpeita itself.

--- p.373 From "The Handsome Man's Back"