Hello! Welcome to a brand new episode of Stories That Made Us. For this week’s tale, we head over to the land of the rising sun, the mighty country of Japan.

Japanese myths have traditionally been passed down through oral traditions, for through most of Japan’s history, its communities were predominantly isolated from one another. This allowed for local legends and myths to grow around the unique features of the geographic location where the people who told the stories lived. We shall find examples of this throughout our four tales, where the stories are tied tightly to their geographic regions.

The two main sources for Japanese myths that are most recognized and widely known are the texts of Kojiki and Nihon Soki or Nihongi. These ancient texts delve into the creation of the Gods and the world, and from there, continue to cover the origins of the Japanese people and the monarchy.

Old listeners would have listened to the tale of Japanese creation myth in Episodes 35, 36, and 37 of the first series. Those tales were all taken from the Kojiki and Nihongi, and are a marvelous account of the trials and tribulations faced by Gods and Goddesses as they shaped the world we live in today.

This week, we have four tales from this beautiful land, all courtesy of the book titled “Old World Japan – Legends of the Land of the Gods” by Frank Rinder. Details of which are below.

Reference:

Title: Old-World Japan: Legends of the Land of the Gods

Author: Frank Rinder

URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46863/46863-h/46863-h.htm

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The music used for the episodes is either free to use or under a creative commons license. Below are their links and attributions:

Dreamy Flashback by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100532

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Isolated by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100792

Artist: http://incompetech.com/