The Japanese Myths: A Guide to Gods, Heroes and Spirits

Product Information

From there it introduces a ghostly presence or a transformative power to befriend, overcome, or embrace. Inside, you will read about some amazing characters and their adventures, there are deceiving fox spirits, ghosts, magical healers, all sorts of miracles that are hard to believe, a lot of humor is also present in the stories inside. We chose The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore as our best book because it does the best job of incorporating Japanese culture’s global influence into the narrative about ancient mythology.

The book attempts to capture multiple themes on both sides of the spectrum, such as great acts of devotion, love, and chivalry. And cold-blooded acts showing no mercy. All of this is seen and told from the perspective of the princess of Crete, Ariadne. She is our protagonist, our eyes and ears, and through her we learn and experience so many stories of Greek mythology all bound together in one exciting narrative. The book provides a detailed description of the history of Yokai along with their cultural significance or beliefs in Japan. The book covers mind-blowing trivia, true illustrations, and mysteries about over fifty creatures. You will also understand the influence of Yokai on Japanese tradition and culture. With respect to the contemporary relevance of Yokai, they are even depicted in a great many Manga comics, anime, movies, and video games popular across the world. Reading a combination of informative, analytical, and compilation-style books may be the best way to get a well-rounded understanding of this subject. Up Next…

And there you have it! The 25 best mythology books! What are your favorite myths?

Handbook of Japanese Mythology should be the go-to option for anyone who’s looking for a more academic understanding of Japanese mythology. That isn’t to say that this book is a dry read, though.

Here comes a different story than the ones above, a fiction one in which you get a feel of what the best book on Japanese mythology looks like. What is good is that it does not overload you with too much information. Instead, it makes everything interesting to read and easier to process. It deserves to be on this list for giving extensive yet vivid accounts of several mind-blowing Japanese myths and legends.Ragnarokuses the framing device of the Thin Girl, a young English child who has escaped to the countryside to avoid the falling bombs of World War II, to tell the story of Ragnarok: the end of the Norse gods. This book would be a great reference tool for homeschooling parents or a companion to a textbook for high school students. Who may want a deeper understanding of mythology and its influence in the modern era. There are many add-in segments that can influence the reader to research further on their own. For example, there is a mini reference section on Japanese translation, listing many individuals who pioneered and further spread the reach of Japanese mythology. Laying the groundwork for the influence it has today in movies, shows, and books. I myself enjoyed hearing the different stories and pinpointing works that I have seen then in. For example, in the show Teen Wolf, one of the seasons features the Oni and Kitsune. I enjoyed learning the orgins of in Cleggs' work.

The author clearly loves and is very knowledgeable about Japanese culture and literature. The book is organised chronologically, and explains how the gods and emperors fit into Japanese literature, or should that be how Japanese literature uses gods and emperors. It starts with There are various creatures in this band of Yokai that are described in the book, there are Yurei (Ghosts), Oni (Demons), Kaijin (Sorcerers), and many more. What’s great about this Japanese myths book is that each of the creatures has its own description next to it so that you get to meet them more personally and find out their unique characteristics. Perfect Picture It’s just more comprehensive than most other non-academic books on the subject. The book uncovers the myths of various sects of Japanese culture, explores their roots, and offers context as to how they might be interpreted today.

Featured Reviews

Rather than pining maidens and masterless samurai, the protagonists of Matsuda’s stories are disheartened salarymen and bitter young women exhausted by loneliness, isolation, and misogyny. People and countries need their myths for a lot of different reasons. One to explain things, where they came from, where they are going and why things are the way they are. Stories from the past explain the reasonings of today. People might treat each other in good or bad ways depending on the myths of their country. Look at America, a young country whose recent history is not that far away, and yet the 1950's in the United States is looked at as an Eden, thought it was far from it. Myths are as encoded in DNA as are the proteins that give us our traits. For good and for bad. To understand a people, it helps to know where they came from. The fact that stories are so good it only a plus. Japanese Myths: Heroes, Gods Demons and Legends by Melanie Clegg looks at the origin tales of the Japanese people and the Ainu natives and tells how the the land, the people and the cultures were developed and formed, by the stories they share.