This enthralling collection brings together 50 ancient tales from Japanese mythology, presented in a hardback gift edition with gold cover embossing and stencilled page edges. These tales were gathered and retold by 19th century traveler and naturalist Richard Gordon Smith. During his journeys around Japan, Smith recorded ancient Japanese myths and legends in his personal diaries. The result is a fascinating collection of historical legends and magic realist tales from all over Japan, with themes including ghosts, unrequited love, Shinto landscape, tree and ocean spirits, samurai culture and tales driven by Bushido and Buddhist ethics.