Legends and myths of ancient Japan

The publication is a real encyclopedia telling about Japanese myths and traditions, starting from the cycle of legends about the creation of the country, the adventures of the gods and heroes to traditions associated with flowers, folk holidays and superstitions. In total, the book has thirty -one chapter, and each of them is devoted to a separate topic. For example, individual legends cycles are devoted to werewolf foxes or stories related to the sea. Other chapters talk about mythical animals, supernatural creatures and Buddhist legends. The book is decorated with several hundred magnificent color reproductions of Japanese engravings of the 17th - early XX centuries.
This publication is a real encyclopedia telling about Japanese myths and traditions, starting from the cycle of legends about the creation of the country to traditions associated with flowers, folk holidays and superstitions. In total, the book has thirty -one chapter, and each of them is dedicated to its own topic. Some, for example, talk about werewolf foxes, others tell about mythical animals, supernatural creatures or Buddhist legends. The book introduces the reader to the whole galaxy of the gods and the glorious hero warriors, who are worthy to take a place in a row with the knights of King Arthur.
Many Japanese myths are very poetic. In them, flowers, trees and butterflies are endowed with souls, blood -red azalia in these legends are considered the bonfires of the gods, and white snow, covering the slopes of Mount Fuji - divine robes. Reading such descriptions, one can understand how important the spiritual, deified nature plays the Japanese in the perception of the world. At the same time, in Japanese legends there are a lot of terrible, irrational and at the same time comic, there are many grotesque details in them. Many Japanese myths are replete with manifestations of brutal realism, which gives fantastic plots incredible credibility and vital conviction.
The author of this collection of myths unique for the European reader is the professional British historian Frederick Hadland Davis, who at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries has a lot of effort to popularize the cultural heritage of Asia in the West. In addition to the "myths and legends of Japan, he compiled, in particular, an impressive collection of Persian myths and became the author of a ten -volume mythological encyclopedia. These and other books were and remain extremely popular in the English -speaking world. Suffice it to say that his "Japanese myths" in the 20th century were reprinted more than seventy times. In his preface to this book, he wrote that her readers will witness how Mount Fuji was born, they will be able to go through the corridors of the Palace of the Sea Dragon, visit the country of eternal youth and listen to the teachings of the Hermit of Hermit.
The publication is decorated with several hundred magnificent color reproductions of Japanese engravings of the 17th - early 20th centuries. Thanks to the skill of their authors: Hirosiga, Kuniyoshi, Kunisa, Yoshitosi, Tikanobu, Harunobu and many other famous Japanese artists, the reader can personally imagine the amazing world in which the ancient gods, heroes, legendary soldiers, demons, werewolves live and act. , bringing and dragons. The legends associated with them will allow you to better understand the unique culture of Japan, which today continues to grow on this ancient layer of folk tales, inextricably linked with the real history of this country