SELECTED WORKS BEARING ON SHINTO
1. History of Japan, by Engelbert Kaempfer, 1727-1728. Worthless for Shinto.
2. Nippon Archif., 1897 (new edition), by P. F. von Siebold. Good when first published, but superseded by later works, in so far as Shinto is concerned.
3. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
(a) A series of papers on ‘The Revival of Pure Shinto’ and ‘Ancient Japanese Rituals,’ by Sir Ernest Satow. 1874-81. The serious student may safely neglect all that precedes these epoch-making articles.
(b) The Kojiki, translated by B. H. Chamberlain, 1883. Accurate, indispensable for myth.
(c) Ancient Japanese Rituals. The Ohoharahi, with translation and notes by Dr. Karl Florenz, 1899. Valuable.
4. Transactions of the Japan Society. the Nihongi, Translated By W. G. Aston, 1896. Similar in Scope To The Kojiki.
5. Japan, an Appreciation, by Lafcadio Hearn, 1904. Sympathetic insight, admirable style, blind acceptance of H. Spencer’s philosophy, imperfect knowledge. His outlook is seen at its best in the recently published Life and Letters (Constable, 1907).