"Traces the history of the Ise shrines from the 7th century until today, focusing on the many episodes of crisis that transformed the social landscape around the shrines"--
When people create new societies, economies, and nations--both now and in the past--they create gods, rituals, and miracles to support them. Even what seem to be some of the most timeless and sacred sites in the world have been shaped, reshaped, and reinterpreted by countless pe…
Mountain Mandalas: Shugendō in Kyushu
"In Mountain Mandalas Allan G. Grapard provides a thought-provoking history of one aspect of the Japanese Shugendo tradition in Kyushu, by focusing on three cultic systems: Mount Hiko, Usa-Hachiman, and the Kunisaki Peninsula. Grapard draws from a rich range of theorists from th…
"The Sea and the Sacred in Japan is the first book to focus on the role of the sea in Japanese religions. While many leading Shinto deities tend to be understood today as unrelated to the sea, and mountains are considered the privileged sites of sacredness, this book provides ne…
Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan is the first systematic study of Shinto's environmental turn. The book traces the development in recent decades of the idea of Shinto as an 'ancient nature religion, ' and a resource for overcoming environmental problems. The vol…
"Yijiang Zhong analyses the formation of Shinto as a complex and diverse religious tradition in early modern Japan, 1600-1868. Highlighting the role of the god Okuninushi and the mythology centered on the Izumo Shrine in western Japan as part of this process, he shows how and wh…