Meanings of Antiquity: Myth Interpretation in Premodern Japan

by Matthieu Felt

Meanings of Antiquity is the first dedicated study of how the oldest Japanese myths, recorded in the eighth-century texts Kojiki and Nihon shoki, changed in meaning and significance between 800 and 1800 CE. Generations of Japanese scholars and students have turned to these two texts and their creation myths to understand what it means to be Japanese and where Japan fits into the world order.

As the shape and scale of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674293789
• ISBN13: 9780674293786
• Release Date: July 2023
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 376 Pages