Realm of the Rising Sun: Japanese Myth

According to Japanese mythology, the cosmos took form spontaneously from chaos.  Lighter elements formed the abode of the gods, while heavier ones became the shapeless Earth.  Many divinities emerged in these two realms, but the seventh celestial couple consisted of Izanagi and Izanami, a god and goddess whose destiny was to establish the sea-kissed islands of Japan in the unruly waters far below.This pair created innumerable further deities, or kami, responsible for the world’s natural phenomena, though the greatest of all their offspring was the sun goddess Amaterasu.  She was brought forth by Izanagi and given dominion over the sky.  The eight gods and goddesses she produced with her brother Susano are said to be the ancestors of Japan’s emperors.Many other tales can be found in Realm of the Rising Sun: Japanese Myth, one volume in an exciting series called Myth and Mankind, a culture-by-culture examination of world myth and its historical roots.  Whether exploring the myths of Persia, early America, China or Greece, each book brings an ancient culture to life as never before.As a result, this is a world history like no other.  Every book is filled with the strange stories, mystic rites, angry gods, vision quests and magic symbols at the heart of all cultures – but left out of most history books.  Such myths are central to understanding how, since the dawn of time, people around the world have sought to explain birth, death, creation, love and other mysteries of life.  These myths lie at the intersection of imagination and history, wisdom and experience, dreams and reality.