Old-world Japan : legends of the land of the gods

216 Pages·10.17 MB·English

by  re-told by Frank Rinder , with illustrations by T.H. Robinson.

REFERENCE
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OLD-WORLD
JAPAN

Old-World
Japan
Legends of the Land of the
Gods * * Re-told Frank
by
Rinder * With Illustrations
T. H. Robinson
by
IS. The spirit of Japan is as the
of the wild
fragrance cherry-
ia/ ID,' 'tfee!'' idawn of the
'
rsng sun,'
t Vi > i .
London: Allen
George
Road
Cross
156 Charing
1895
TIE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
^0
G
ASTOR LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
O
, i ,
. ,
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press
Preface
TTISTORY
and mythology, fact and fable,
are closely interwoven in the texture of
and
Japanese life thought indeed, it is
;
within relatively recent years only that
exact comparative criticism has been able,
with some degree of accuracy, to divide the
one from the other. The accounts of the
m
God-period .contain^ the Kojiki and
the Nihongj^-T '^RecQids of Ancient Matters"
compiled, in 'the," eighth century of the
Christian eia' profess : to outline the events
of the vast cycles of years from the time
of Ame-no-mi-naka-nushi-no-kami's birth in
the Plain of High Heaven, ''when the
earth, young and like unto floating oil,
drifted about medusa-like," to the death of
the Empress Suiko, A.D. 628.
PREFACE
The first six tales in this little volume
are founded on some of the most
significant
and picturesque incidents of this God-period.
The opening legend gives a brief relation
of the birth of several of the great Shinto
deities, of the creation of Japan and of the
world, of the Orpheus-like descent of Izanagi
to Hades, and of his subsequent fight with the
demons.
That Chinese civilisation has exercised a
profound influence on that of Japan, cannot
A
be doubted. scholar of repute has indicated
that evidence of this is to be found even
in writings so early as the Kojiki and the
Nihongi. To give a single^ instance only:
^
the curved jewels, forf' *-tw~hich Ih''-a* rem*arkable
necklace of Ama-terasu was made, have never
been found in Japan, whereas .the stones are
not uncommon in China!.
This is not the place critically to con-
sider the wealth of myth, legend, fable, and
folk-tale to be found scattered throuogh-
out Japanese literature, and represented
in Japanese art : suffice it to say, that
to the student and the lover of primitive
VI