Japanese Mythology

Japanese myths present a significant barrier to entry for Westerners. The primary sources are arcane, and their translations are not accessible to the non-specialist. Japanese deities (kami) have multiple, long names, and the myths exist in different and conflicting versions. Finally, the sheer number of kami makes grasping the pantheon difficult.

Japanese Mythology: A Guide presents key Japanese myths in a format that is both rigorous and understandable. Matthieu Felt brings together Japanese myths as they appear in the oldest extant sources and the various methodologies used to study them in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.