Japanese Mythology and Yokai Tales Retold

You came to Japan through anime, games or a half-remembered folktale, and now you keep meeting names you can't place. Who is Amaterasu, really? Why does everyone fear the kappa at the riverbank, and what happened to the fisherman who opened the box?

This collection gives you the source stories, each one told start to finish as living drama with dialogue you can hear. You descend with Izanagi into the land of the dead, wait outside the cave while the sun hides, watch Susanoo face the eight-headed Orochi, and follow Momotaro to the demon island. Between the great myths come the yokai encounters, the fox spirit, the tengu, the snow woman whose promise must never be broken, with a quiet word after each on what the tale meant in Shinto Japan and why it still unsettles people today.

By the end, the names in your favourite stories have faces, histories and reasons. Press play and let the old tales tell themselves.