Download or read book JAPANESE MOUNTAIN GODS: Myth Acting Models of Character in the Crisis of Modernity written by John Foster and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-06-30 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japanese mountain gods belong to the land and its memory and maintain meaning in how through myth acting in matsuri models of character are possible for adherents. The oldest form of the three models, referred to in the book as masks, pertains to passage into the land of the nature kami up and into the mysterious mountains for purposes of hunting; the second mask is associated with sacred space, protection and the ancestors; the third mask is linked to the social environment of rice farming, which came to help model behaviour associated with rice and human fertility as well as what it means to be a good member of the extended kinship group. This book is first about what these ancient Japanese myths were, their meaning, their history and their fate in the modern world. This book is especially for those who hope that in our times and the crisis of modernity traditional ways of life and their myths still have meaning.