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PrintCollection Name: Drachen Foundation Collection
Collection Number: 2368
Post Type: Book
This item was entered by Matthew Sutton. They assume full responsibility for all content.
Artist or Author: Clio Whittaker
Creation Year: 1989
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ISBN: 1-85627-820-4 Language: English Description: To explore the mythology of any country is an excellent way to gain a greater understanding of its people today. Thus the mythological stories of Japan, which so often involve the subjugation of nature, are born out of the overwhelming importance of rice growing in the old agrarian economy; and the loyalty, hard work and dedication to a common harvest which the rice field demanded, are exactly the virtues upon which Japanese modern economic success is based. Taking as its starting point the mythologies of China, India and Japan, An Introduction to Oriental Mythology not only tells some of the wonderful stories themselves - most of them probably new to the western reader- but also relates them to their sources and explains their religious, social and moral significance. Among those related is the Chinese creation myth of Pangu, the first living creature, who grew 10 feet a day for 18,000 years to separate the earth at his feet and the sky supported by his head; and the myth of the god Gonggong, defeated in battle, who dashed himself against Mount Buzhou in anguish and tilted the heavens (so that the Pole Star no longer occupies a central position in the firmament); the story of the Japanese goddess Izanami, trapped in the land of the dead, who kills 1,000 people every day in revenge, and her husband Izanagi who replaces them with 1,500; and from India, some of the many Jataka tales of the former lives of the Buddha.
127 pgs
Geographic: Asia
Materials: Paper
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