How like a god : deification in Japanese religion
Hiroo Satō (Author), David Noble (Translator)
In this comprehensive survey, Satō Hiroo tells the story of the origins and transformation sof the gods in Japan from prehistory to modern times. Employing a broad range of primary sources from archaeological evidence to chronicles, legends, literary works and other written records, he links evolving concepts of the gods to social and political change, including the sacred mystique built up around the emperor legitimatizing the new central state and the revival, centuries later, of veneration of the emperor for political purposes after the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate. He also explores the connection to shifts in the prevailing religious cosmology, such as the rise in the medieval period of Pure Land Buddhism with hitogami as avatars guiding individuals to salvation on the Other Shore
Print Book, English, 2016
International House of Japan, Tokyo, 2016