Aston sketches the nature-gods (kami), the myths of Izanagi and Izanami, the doubled spirit (mitama), the norito prayers and the shrine festivals of Japan's native religion. He argues that Shinto is not ancestor-worship, has little moral code, and is doomed beside its foreign rivals.
Books mentioned in Shinto: The Ancient Religion of Japan (10)
Kojiki by O no Yasumaro: “The Kojiki is a repertory of the old myths and legends, and, in the latter part, of the ancient history of Japan.”
Nihongi by Prince Toneri: “The Nihongi, a work of similar scope, though based more on an existing written literature, was produced a few years later (720). It quotes numerous variants of the religious myths current at this time.”
Engishiki by Fujiwara no Tokihira: “For the ritual of Shinto our chief source of information is the Yengishiki, a compilation made early in the tenth century.”
Man'yoshu: “In one passage of the Nihongi, Yomi is clearly no more than a metaphor for the grave. A brother of Jimmu Tenno, the first Mikado, is said to have gone to the ‘Eternal Land’ at his death, and in a poem of the Manyōshiu, a deceased Mikado is said to have ascended into heaven.”
The Tempest by William Shakespeare: “In Shakespeare’s Tempest, Iris is at once the rainbow and an anthropomorphic messenger of the gods. Phoebus is not only the sun but a deity distinct from that luminary, though associated with it, as in the story of Phaeton.”
Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation by Lafcadio Hearn: “The same view is held by some European scholars, notably the late Lafcadio Hearn, whose interesting and valuable work, Japan, an Interpretation, is greatly marred by this misconception.”
A History of Japanese Literature by W. G. Aston: “M. Revon, the author of a valuable treatise on Shinto, challenges this statement, which I had already made in my History of Japanese Literature.”
Occult Japan by Percival Lowell: “There is evidence that the inspired person, generally a woman, delivered the divine message when in a hypnotic trance. This is undoubtedly the case at the present time. Mr. P. Lowell’s Occult Japan gives a detailed description of a séance of this kind at which he was present.”
The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: “In this respect he greatly resembles the Kratos and Bia of Hesiod and Æschylus. See Percival Lowell’s Soul of the Far East.”
Shintoisme by Michel Revon: “Shintoisme, by M. Revon, in the Revue de l’Histoire des Religions, 1905-1907. Highly recommended for its up-to-date theory, and as a comprehensive collection of facts.”