Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The God Susanoo and Korea in Japan's Cultural Memory: Ancient Myths and Modern Empire

The God Susanoo and Korea in Japan's Cultural Memory: Ancient Myths and Modern Empire

Weiss, David
Rambelli, Fabio

Paperback

Series: Bloomsbury Shinto Studies

Japanese HistoryKorean HistoryShintoism

ISBN10: 1350271217
ISBN13: 9781350271210
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Aug 24 2023
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.54 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

This book discusses how ancient Japanese mythology was utilized during the colonial period to justify the annexation of Korea to Japan, with special focus on the god Susanoo. Described as an ambivalent figure and wanderer between the worlds, Susanoo served as a foil to set off the sun goddess, who played an important role in the modern construction of a Japanese national identity.

Susanoo inhabited a sinister otherworld, which came to be associated with colonial Korea. Imperialist ideologues were able to build on these interpretations of the Susanoo myth to depict Korea as a dreary realm at the margin of the Japanese empire that made the imperial metropole shine all the more brightly. At the same time, Susanoo was identified as the ancestor of the Korean people. Thus, the colonial subjects were ideologically incorporated into the homogeneous Japanese family state.

The book situates Susanoo in Japan's cultural memory and shows how the deity, while being repeatedly transformed in order to meet the religious and ideological needs of the day, continued to symbolize the margin of Japan.

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