The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan (Japan Library Classics)

This classic work describes shamanic figures surviving in Japan today, their initiatory dreams, ascetic practices, the supernatural beings with whom they communicate, and the geography of the other world in myth and legend. Book Cover; Title; Contents; Preface to the Second Edition; Preface to the First Edition and Acknowledgements; The Bridge; The Sacred Beings; Witch Animals; The Other World; Ascesis; The Ancient Sibyl; The Living Goddess; The Blind Medium; The Ascetic's Initiation; The Visionary Journey; The Symbolic Journey; The Ascetic's Power; Village Oracles; Mountain Oracles; Exorcism; Conclusion; Appendix: Climbing the Ladder of Swords; Abbreviations; Select Bibliography; Additional Bibliography (Third Edition); Glossary; Index. In the No play Aoi no Ue we are shown, limp and enigmatic in the middle of the stage, a single folded robe.