Myths of China and Japan / with illustrations in colour & monochrome after paintings and photographs

The volume collects and retells traditional myths and legends from Chinese and Japanese traditions while providing interpretive commentary. It surveys creation accounts, deities, supernatural beings, and symbolic motifs such as jade and funerary ritual, and considers how art and material culture reflect religious ideas. The author relates mythic themes to archaeological evidence and comparative diffusion, highlights scholarly problems with later textual compilations, and explains how ritual practice and symbolism evolved. Illustrated examples accompany the text to show visual forms of mythic subjects and their role in social and artistic life.