Also, in recent years, books about Japanese mythology/folklore have been largely dominated by YA fantasy - which there’s nothing wrong with, but it’s worth noting. But it’s disappointing that so few books on this subject come from people who have a Japanese background. And to be fair, there are cases where Japanese illustrators were included in the project. I’m absolutely not saying that there can’t be appreciation for different cultures, including wanting to write an account of everything someone has learned while, say, living abroad or spending years studying a place. This is the best case scenario, but I think we all know that this doesn’t always happen.Īs I started research for this piece, something became alarmingly clear after just a few hours: there are way too few books about Japanese mythology and folklore written by actual Japanese people. I think it’s fascinating when people get to talk about their own cultural background and then use that as a jumping off point or inspiration for their book.Īnd that would be the hope, right? That people who belong or identify with that cultural background would have first dibs - that most books would be written from this perspective and thus have a certain layer of authenticity. It’s such a great way to learn about different cultures, be it through nonfiction or fiction. this version has also benefited from the scholarship of the earlier complete annotated translations into English made by Basil Hall Chamberlain and Donald Phillipi, and Danno Yoko. I absolutely love diving into books that are steeped in mythology or folklore. 'The body of the translation is based on Yamaguchi Yoshinori and Knoshi Takamitsu, eds., Kojiki, Shinpen Nihon koten bungaku zensh (Tokyo: Shgakukan, 1997).
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