The topic of Shinto is one I haven't really studied much of before; I waited for years to finally attain a proper copy of this book that could reasonably be edited from and was finally able to do so fairly recently. Its author needs little introduction since he wasn't just an avid studier of Asian religion but also an astronomer of considerable fame who proclaimed Mars to be covered in artificial canals.
The work is almost more notable for its time period and cultural significance than for its strictly religious content since it was written from a western perspective in the very center of the Meiji period- the rapidly shifting cultural ethos of Japan is thus overlapped seamlessly with age-old ritual customs and spiritual lore in this work, acting almost as a time capsule. Highly recommended.
208 pages.
Added this one to my wish list. I lived in Japan for a number of years. Shinto was one of the cultural codes I could never really crack. I look forward to this read once I'm through my back log of a few other volumes.
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