Myths & Legends of Japan

Myths & Legends of Japan
Author :
Publisher : Library of Alexandria
Total Pages : 431
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781465607966
ISBN-13 : 146560796X
Rating : 4/5 (66 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Myths & Legends of Japan by : Frederick Hadland Davis

Download or read book Myths & Legends of Japan written by Frederick Hadland Davis and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pierre Loti in Madame Chrysanthème, Gilbert and Sullivan in The Mikado, and Sir Edwin Arnold in Seas and Lands, gave us the impression that Japan was a real fairyland in the Far East. We were delighted with the prettiness and quaintness of that country, and still more with the prettiness and quaintness of the Japanese people. We laughed at their topsy-turvy ways, regarded the Japanese woman, in her rich-coloured kimono, as altogether charming and fascinating, and had a vague notion that the principal features of Nippon were the tea-houses, cherry-blossom, and geisha. Twenty years ago we did not take Japan very seriously. We still listen to the melodious music of The Mikado, but now we no longer regard Japan as a sort of glorified willow-pattern plate. The Land of the Rising Sun has become the Land of the Risen Sun, for we have learnt that her quaintness and prettiness, her fairy-like manners and customs, were but the outer signs of a great and progressive nation. To-day we recognise Japan as a power in the East, and her victory over the Russian has made her army and navy famous throughout the world. The Japanese have always been an imitative nation, quick to absorb and utilise the religion, art, and social life of China, and, having set their own national seal upon what they have borrowed from the Celestial Kingdom, to look elsewhere for material that should strengthen and advance their position. This imitative quality is one of Japan's most marked characteristics. She has ever been loath to impart information to others, but ready at all times to gain access to any form of knowledge likely to make for her advancement. In the fourteenth century Kenkō wrote in his Tsure-dzure-gusa: "Nothing opens one's eyes so much as travel, no matter where," and the twentieth-century Japanese has put this excellent advice into practice. He has travelled far and wide, and has made good use of his varied observations. Japan's power of imitation amounts to genius. East and West have contributed to her greatness, and it is a matter of surprise to many of us that a country so long isolated and for so many years bound by feudalism should, within a comparatively short space of time, master our Western system of warfare, as well as many of our ethical and social ideas, and become a great world-power. But Japan's success has not been due entirely to clever imitation, neither has her place among the foremost nations been accomplished with such meteor-like rapidity as some would have us suppose.


Myths & Legends of Japan Related Books

Myths & Legends of Japan
Language: en
Pages: 502
Authors: Frederick Hadland Davis
Categories: Folklore
Type: BOOK - Published: 1928 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Myths & Legends of Japan
Language: en
Pages: 431
Authors: Frederick Hadland Davis
Categories: Folklore
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-09-28 - Publisher: Library of Alexandria

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Pierre Loti in Madame Chrysanthème, Gilbert and Sullivan in The Mikado, and Sir Edwin Arnold in Seas and Lands, gave us the impression that Japan was a real fa
The Japanese Myths
Language: en
Pages: 291
Authors: Joshua Frydman
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-04-07 - Publisher: Thames & Hudson

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is a smart and succinct guide to the rich tradition of Japanese mythology, from the earliest recorded legends of Izanagi and Izanami, their divine offsprin
Japanese Myths & Legends
Language: en
Pages: 288
Authors: J.K. Jackson
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022-04-12 - Publisher: Flame Tree Collections

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Gorgeous Collector's Edition. Legends of the Sea, Bells, Mirrors and Tea, Japanese mythology is delightful and enigmatic, full of spirits, gods and legendary cr
Japanese Mythology
Language: en
Pages: 144
Authors: Juliet Piggott
Categories: Buddhist legends
Type: BOOK - Published: 1997 - Publisher: Bounty Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Discusses the mythology of Japan, its origins in Shintoism and Buddhism, and the gods, spirits, men, and animals that appear in the many legends and stories.