Ō no Yasumaro (660–723)

This tome is often said to be the Japanese "Bible"- of course, it is really nothing of the sort, and if read it expecting that you'll be a bit surprised. In form, it is more similar to Aesop's Fables. The books consists of some basic myths of Japanese Shintoism, and the stories are often entertaining and full of bodily fluids, all of which produce hundreds of gods. A nessecary text for anyone studying religion or Japan.

Si tratta del più antico testo letterario giapponese.
Narra la protostoria del Giappone che inizia con l’emergere dell’Arcipelago dal caos primordiale.
Un'immersione totale nel pantheon nipponico: a volte terribile, altre divertente, sempre stupefacente.

One of the earliest collections of Japanese myths, shading into quasi-historical chronicles towards the end.
Very repetitive but very intersting for comparative purposes, as the compilers included several different versions of each of the early myths.

The oldest surviving document from Japan. This is divided into three books; the first recounts myths concerning the creation of the earth and the acts of the gods, especially Amaterasu and Susano-no-wo. The second and third books give quasi-historical accounts of the acts of emperors, with increasing specificity towards the end.

The student of mythology will find this interesting reading, especially the first book. The translation is scholarly, with elaborate footnotes and appendices offering show more contextual information. The Phillipi text is commonly regarded as the standard scholarly translation, supplanting an earlier work by Basil Hall-Chamberlain (the Hall-Chamberlain text was completed in the 1890s, and translated all the "unseemly" bits into Latin instead of English). show less