If you have ever stood at a torii gate and wondered who is actually enshrined inside, this book gives you the answer while sharpening your Japanese reading at the same time. Written for intermediate and advanced learners, it presents the myths, the major deities, and the shrines that honor them in Japanese with a facing English translation, so you can read as far as you can and check yourself whenever you need to.
The book opens with what Japanese mythology actually is: the religious outlook of ancient Japan, how the myths took shape, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki accounts, and the worldview behind them. From there you meet the gods and heroes themselves, including Amaterasu and Susanoo, Okuninushi, Ninigi and Hoori, Iwarehiko, and Yamato Takeru. Later chapters turn to the shrines: what a shrine is, the manners of a proper visit, useful background knowledge, and the historical figures who came to be worshipped as deities. A closing survey covers representative shrines across eastern and western Japan.
Every page comes with furigana readings, vocabulary notes, and the English translation, and audio narration is included, so you can listen while you follow along. Across 216 pages it works equally well as a reader for language study and as an approachable introduction to the religious sensibility that puzzles so many visitors to Japan.
Published by IBC Publishing. Brand new, 2024 publication.
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