Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (also Kaidan), often shortened to Kwaidan, is a book by Lafcadio Hearn which features several Japanese ghost stories and a brief non-fiction study on insects. It was later used as the basis for a movie called Kwaidan by Masaki Kobayashi in 1965. Kaidan is Japanese for "ghost story." Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (27 June 1850 - 26 September 1904), known also by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo, was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories.