Lafcadio Hearn's "In Ghostly Japan"

i discovered an interesting book, "In Ghostly Japan" by Lafcadio Hearn. actually, i'd heard of Lafcadio Hearn before. supposedly, he wrote "kwaidan," a collection of ghost stories that is famous not just amongst foreigners, but among the japanese themselves. it appears that Lafcadio not only translated the japanese mythos (superstitions, etc.) to foreigners, but to the japanese too.

anyway, it seems at times that fate draws me to certain books. i looked in the chapter headings, and found a chapter entitled "silkworms." the chapter began with a very intriguing chinese saying: "the silkworm moth eyebrows of a woman are the axe to the wisdom of man."

it's not in those words, obviously, but "moth-eaten" is intended to be about a similar seduction. and the central imagery is the moth, the silkworm moth.