Summary
Japanese Myths and Tales
The earliest Japanese myths, legends and tales, collected in this book, are collected from Japan's long history and a wide range of geographical locations.
We meet Izanagi and Izanami, Amaterasu, Susana and many other deities, and these magnificent beings offer us unusual, wonderful, almost humorous, and sometimes a little horrifying stories. When studying Japanese lore, we are especially surprised by its universality, but also by very sharp contrasts.
The Japanese described the red flowers of azalea as the flames of the gods, and the white snow of Mount Fuji as the clothing of divine beings.
Their legends, at least in one hand, are inherently poetic, and those who worshiped Mount Fuji could also tell you a terrible story about the smallest insect.
We cannot overemphasize the Japanese love for nature. However, there is also an abundance of harsh realism in Japanese legends.
We cringe at the thunder god's favorite meal, we are enchanted by the magical powers of foxes and cats; and the story of "Hōichi the Eyeless" and the priest who eats corpses provides us with striking examples of the combination of the unusual and the horrible.
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