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She is not afraid of the authorities.She saunters in, inviting laughter and liveliness.With an open mind, not with a weapon, she redefines the world and the nation.She is Ame no Uzume, the half-naked dancing Japanese goddess.The author, Tsurumi Shunsuke, is one of Japan' s leading postwar thinkers and philosophers.

Through provocative essays by specialists in different aspects of Japanese culture, this book provides an historical and analytical survey of the presence of Goddesses in Japanese audiovisual culture from its origins to the present day. It shows how these feminine myths are represented in Japan, not only as beneficial or creative deities, but also the archetypal strong or dominant woman that sometimes overshadows masculine figures and heroes, or as influential figures. Therefore, it analyzes this rich dialectic of the feminine and how the audiovisual culture has represented it thus far in film, TV series, and video games made in Japan. While many theories have been proposed to explain the presence of Goddesses in Japan, this book’s focus on audiovisual culture explores how this corpus challenges the traditional conceptions of the feminine as related to Goddesses.

Thanks to the reverence for nature, both the Vietnamese and Japanese communities worship deities associated with mountains, rivers and trees. Thus, these manifestations of nature worship are a distinctive feature of East Asian agricultural cultures, contributing to cultural identities worldwide. This article explores these traditions using field methods, participant observation, and quantitative and qualitative analysis of linguistic documents and ritual videos. The article has clarified that Mother Goddess worship in Vietnam and Shinto in Japan are essential to fulfilling spiritual needs, easing anxieties and nurturing ethical and communal values, reflecting both shared and unique aspects of these belief systems. It reveals how these beliefs shape cognition, behavior, lifestyle, and mindset in two communities through fact and concept schemas, procedure schemas and emotion schemas. Moreover, it highlights their enduring significance and the need for ongoing, interdisciplinary research, especially with religious beliefs in modern society.

Saito profiles the life and works of Peter Knecht, a renowned anthropologist and folklorist, highlighting some of his many publications over a thirty-five-year period. The survey is intended to introduce the wide range of his work on topics such as society and religion in Hanayama Village, Ise pilgrimage, Christianity and the Church, new religions in Japan, and shamanism in northeastern Japan and China. Some of his research, such as discussions on the ambivalent power of women in religion (Knecht 1975b) and of goddesses in myths (1975a), and some of his recent research, such as that on insects in Japanese culture (Knecht et al, 2000, 2001), and on an examination of the concept gaijin seen from the perspective of an anthropologist (2006a), can only be mentioned in the bibliography. It is important to note that the survey is not meant to commemorate his entire career. Indeed, such a survey would be premature as he continues to vigorously engage in research and writing projects. In summary, it can be said that the strength of his studies lies in detailed descriptions and analyses of cultural dynamics on the basis of acute observations. His tenacious research and sharp anthropological sense have led to important new findings and enabled him to make significant contributions to anthropological studies on sociocultural change. It is anticipated that his further research and publications will continue to exhibit such anthropological acumen and sensitivity.

This chapter contains sections titled: Origins The Rediscovery of Court Myth The Way of Poetry Buddhist Readings and Ritualizations: The Way of the Gods The Rock‐Cave Myth as a Performance, and the Way of Noh The End of the Medieval World The Rock‐Cave Myth after Meiji

This article examines the role of the Chinese ritual calendar and continental technologies in the formation of early literary and ritual tropes of the Japanese islands. Special attention is given to a small cluster of legends involving imperial emissaries that are sent to call out women with whom rulers have become enamored. The text argues that these legends illustrate the influence of continental rites and legends related to weaving and sericulture on the formation of early tropes of kingship and courtly romance. Because these legends appear to have been rooted in Chinese rites in which silkworm goddesses were \"called out\" using imagery based upon the silkworm's ability to \"die\" and be reborn, the text further argues that these legends may have been related to the development of purportedly \"native\" funerary practices during the period.