Antony Cummins, "The Dark Side of Japan: Ancient Black Magic, Folklore, Ritual"
ASIN: B0751JG4R4, ISBN: 1445663023 | 2017 | EPUB/AZW3 | 224 pages | 2 MB/2 MB

The Dark Side of Japan is a collection of folktales, ritual black magic, protection spells, monsters, and other dark interpretations of life and death from Japanese folklore. Most of the information comes from ancient documents, translated into English for the first time. Antony Cummins has also searched the now forgotten Victorian volumes on Japanese mythology and explains recent academic research on Japan for the non-expert. Pulling all these strands together, Antony has reformed the complex information with these brand new translations into a modern rendering, with stories and details that let a modern reader enter into the world of the forgotten legends of old Japan and the superstitions that color them, some of which still exist today. The Dark Side of Japan is illustrated with more than 100 images, some drawn from ancient scrolls, some photographs of contemporary Japan, some specially commissioned to explain some of the "hellish" concepts within-and remarkably hellish they are, too.