Japanese Myths and Legends

by Richard Gordon Smith

This enthralling collection brings together 50 ancient tales from Japanese mythology, presented in a hardback gift edition with gold cover embossing and stencilled page edges.

These tales were gathered and retold by 19th century traveler and naturalist Richard Gordon Smith. During his journeys around Japan, Smith recorded ancient Japanese myths and legends in his personal diaries. The result is a fascinating collection of historical legends and magic realist tales from all over Japan, with themes including ghosts, unrequited love, Shinto landscape, tree and ocean spirits, samurai culture and tales driven by Bushido and Buddhist ethics.

256 pages, Hardcover

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

Richard Gordon Smith (1858-1918) was a British traveler, sportsman and naturalist who traveled through many countries in the late nineteenth century and lived in Japan for a number of years.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Sarah S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a good insight into ancient Japanese culture. There's such a wide range of stories with something for everyone, whether you're interested in themes of war, romance, or ghosts. A few stories were a bit slow for my taste, but most of them were very engaging. The most graphic parts were scenes in a couple stories where people disembowel themselves, but those are brief, one or two sentence descriptions. That's as violent as it gets.

Note that the author wrote this in the early 1900s, so some dates are a little off from our modern perspective, but nothing detracts from the stories themselves. The book itself is also gorgeous! The sides of the pages are printed with yellow sakura blossoms, and there is some artwork inside. I was not expecting so much detail. Definitely a beautiful book to display on any bookshelf.

I would highly recommend this, especially to anyone interested in Japanese culture!