Mythen & Legenden Van Japan

For readers hungry for the strange and beautiful, this collection opens a door into a Japan most Western readers never knew existed. Written in an era when Japan was still a mystery to Western audiences, F. Hadland Davis approaches these myths with genuine reverence and wonder, acknowledging how much the West had misunderstood this powerful nation. The stories begin with the creation epic of Izanagi and Izanami, the divine couple whose love and loss gave birth to the Japanese islands and their countless gods. From there, the collection sweeps through legendary warriors like Yoshitsune and his loyal retainer Benkei, through tales of the supernatural where foxes transform and ghosts demand terrible sacrifices, through the haunting romance of 'The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Maiden.' Davis himself notes the striking contrast: Japanese legend can be 'quaint, beautiful, quasi-humorous' but also delivers 'the weird and the horrible' in stories that will linger long after you've closed the book. Thirty-two illustrations bring Buddha, mountain goddesses, and spectral visions to vivid life. This is the Japan of myth, where the divine bleeds into the everyday and every tree, mountain, and sea has a spirit waiting to be heard.