China and Japan

by Donald A. Mackenzie

A survey of Oriental myths and legends, discussing their origins and meanings, and drawing parallels and connections to the mythologies of other cultures

Genres: Mythology, Reference, Nonfiction, History, Folklore, Poetry

Hardcover

First published March 27, 1988

About the author

Donald Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish journalist and folklorist and a prolific writer on religion, mythology and anthropology in the early 20th century.

Reviews

[Monty Milne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fascinatingly digressive - deliberately so, because the author wants us to persuade us that the Chinese never had an original thought, but that it all comes from somewhere else. Thus we get, for example, a consideration of the mummification practices of the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea. What has this got to do with the myths of China and Japan? Why, says our author, because it proves that the Papuans were influenced by the ancient Egyptians, which therefore proves the Chinese were too....you don't have to be a Chinese Nationalist to find this both unconvincing and more than a little annoying....

This book was first published in 1924, so we must accept that there will be mistakes (for example - Dagon, god of the Philistines, is no longer thought to have been a fish-deity, as Mackenzie thinks, so cannot be an influence on Chinese water-deity myths). But - despite all the digressions - there is still enough fascinating material on China (especially) to make it a worthwhile read, at least for me. And I rediscovered another pleasure too: most of the books I've read lately have been mass produced paperbacks, or downloaded onto my Kindle: but the physicality of this one was a real pleasure. Big, creamy pages, pleasingly printed, attractively bound and illustrated, reassuringly heavy and fragrant with library dust and hints of wooden shelves: this was a pleasurable exercise in the aesthetic pleasure of book reading.

[Nicholas Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author seems to really like connecting myths from different parts of the world with each other, but some of his hypotheses are slightly questionable, for example, he seems to think Chinse myths were associated by Filipino legends which is unlikely given there was not much contact between the Asian mainland and the islands of the Philippines until the Europeans came.

The title is also slightly misleading, too, given the contents of the book in which he spends a disproportionate amount of time discussing European and Middle-Eastern myths.

There are much better sources elsewhere for getting really deep into Chinese or Japanese mythology.

https://www.onmarkproductions.com/htm...

The above is one such website I'd recommend for those interested in Japanese folklore or traditions.

https://immortalmountain.wordpress.co...

Here you can also find information about mythical creatures and legendary beings from China.

[Sedna Dragon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though I did like this book, it gave history and myths and legends from around the world and not just from China and Japan and I wanted this to tell me solely about the myths and legends of those respective countries.

[Teresa Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be very thorough when I had the opportunity to read it, and had taken quite a few notes during my research. I did note bias though, the researcher conveyed the information as if he thought these people's beliefs to be backward. It was good, I would add it to my personal library if the chance arose, but I was disappointed that some of the motifs could have been gone into in more depth if the prevailing mindset could have been set aside and not flavored his book.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

While an interesting anthropological study, and interesting sociologically as well, not at all what I thought. I would have preferred to read a book of myths with perhaps minor commentary, not a treatise comparing and delineating myths from multiple cultures with only references to myths from each culture.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

When one is like me who has an interest in Asian culture, and loves anything mythological, it only makes sense I read this!! It's fascinating!