I bought this non-fictional book about the mytho, history and culture of curse work and sorcery in Japan because I'm getting really into the Jujutsu Kaisen manga/anime series...
A few things that I learned from this book:
(1) Unlike China, which sorcery and witchcraft largely had no official place and title in the governmental body (sorcery had a bit of a role to play in perhaps some religious ceremonies, the medical department and in the official astronomical department), in the ancient Japan sorcery and sorcerers (or priests) actually had their own department in the royal court and the nobles were relying on them to get rid of bad luck, illness and natural disaster.
(2) According to the ancient texts, some of the main nobles and a few Emperors in Japan were actually powerful sorcerers/shamans, to say the least. LOL
(3) since sorcerers and sorcery actually had power and title in the royal court, so power struggle among different religious groups and sorcery schools was just something unavoidable. LOL
(4) A few monks were actually powerful sorcerers/priests as well, plus Edo, the now-Tokyo is a capital built with magical wards and supernatural protection in mind. LOL
(5) Now most of us don't think much about magic and sorcery or take it seriously, but back in the ancient time, sorcery was a matter of life and death and power...
(6) What was the most popular sorcery in the ancient time? You guessed it...praying for rainfall and good weather!
(7) There are plenty of details I'd already learned from other manga, novels or non fictional books, I still appreciate the author's author and his (or her?) skill at making good summary and assumptions!
(8) when sorcery, witchcraft, court intrigues, infight among nobles, samurai and religious groups are involved, colorful and spicy history would also be waiting for you here!
(9) I also like how the author liked the ancient sorcerers and mythical figures in Japan history/mythology with the characters and plots from the Jujutsu Kaisen series!!!!
PS: I have my doubt about whether sorcery and witchcraft was as unimportant in ancient China as the author claimed, despite the lack of official titles the ancient Chinese were as superstitious as it can get, right? Still, overall I still enough it very much!