Carmen Blacker

A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan (Japan Library Classics)

The Catalpa Bow

A Study in Shamanistic Practices in Japan

This volume of the Collected Writings of Modern Western Scholars on Japan brings together the work of Carmen Blacker, who wrote extensively on religion, myth and folklore.

Carmen Blacker - Collected Writings

Michael Loewe

First published in 1981, Divination and Oracles analyses the religious practices of the ancient world as they have been witnessed from Scandinavia to Tibet and Japan, from the third millennium BC until the present day. Divination and the consultation of oracles formed part of the religious practice of the ancient world and are part of the living folklore of the contemporary societies. They are subjects that are of immediate concern to anthropologists and not infrequently to the historians of early science. Written by the specialists in the early history of European and Asian Civilisations, the chapters call on the evidence of the written word of history and the surviving artefacts and inscriptions of archaeology. They describe the different methods that have been adopted and examine the types of question that feature in man’s attempt to seek guidance from other powers. The contributions show how an appeal to the irrational can affect the decision of prophet or statesman, or the way of life of farmer or sailor; and how such an appeal can also stimulate scientific enquiry into the cycles of nature. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of religion, comparative religion, and ancient history.

Divination and Oracles

Edward Shils

Portraits of twelve outstanding women who lived and worked in Cambridge before women were admitted to the University.

Twelve Portraits

Cambridge Women

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.

A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan

Oracles and Divination

Carmen Blacker's writings on Japan focus on religion, myth and folklore.

Carmen Blacker

Books

Your next favorite book is out there