Matthieu Felt: Meanings of Antiquity: Myth Interpretation in Premodern Japan

B.V.E. Hyde

doi:10.4312/as.2025.13.3.367-371

Authors

B.V.E. HYDE University of Bristol, United Kingdom; Bangor University, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2025.13.3.367-371

Keywords:

antiquity, premodern Japan, Japan, Japanese myth , Japanese philosophy

Abstract

Matthieu Felt aims to show that the Japanese myth of the creation of the nation (kuniumi) does not exist outside of history but is instead a product of history, and that its interpretation has changed as the times changed. His argument is that Japanese myths are alive and continually adapting to the context in which they live, and he narrates these changes in meaning over time.

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