The Black Menpō: A Japanese horror story

By Paul Boutin

The Black Menpō

by Paul Boutin

Forged in the age of war, from soot, gold, and the breath of the dying, the black menpō mask was said to trap a warrior's final soul within its lacquered grin. When worn, it remembers.

At the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, a cowardly peasant named Jiro steals the armor of a fallen samurai and dons the cursed mask-binding his fate to centuries of blood and shame. Fevered and hunted, he slips between worlds: through visions of firebombed cities and the mind of a kamikaze pilot, through the haunted corridors of an Edo pleasure house where the mask reawakens as envy and desire consume another life.

Across generations, men and women inherit the curse of cowardice and the longing to be seen. Each believes they can master the mask; each is devoured in turn.

The Black Menpō is a lyrical tale of guilt and reincarnation-where history, horror, and myth entwine, and the mask waits, silent and patient, remembering what men forget.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G38XCKZ7
• ISBN13: 9798275368123
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"