Becoming an Armchair Shinto Scholar (Researching The Shrine War)

The proposed cover for The Shrine War

When editor Fred Patten asked me to contribute to his anthology, Dogs of War, I was very excited when we agreed on my crafting a tale about a group of kitsune shrine maidens (anthropomorphic foxes) defending their shrine against a group of invading Inugami (anthropomorphic dogs).

Tragically, when I sat down to begin outlining my story, I suddenly realized I knew nothing about Japanese mythology, Shintoism, or the least bit of information on kitsune or Inugami.

So, I did what I do best: I started doing some very intensive and extensive research. Eventually, I learned enough to write a story that Fred accepted, but I am now expanding the story as well as another that takes place in the same timeline. I hope to release the novelette with its accompanying short story later this year.

I have always enjoyed researching topics that I have a genuine interest in, and the list of resources I cobbled together has enabled me to craft a story that dances close enough to Japanese mythology so as not to offend anybody with a passing familiarity with the topic of yōkai.

Admittedly, I am writing about a Japan that exists more in my imagination than reality, and I have taken great poetic license with the kitsune and Inugami, but I hope that people will enjoy the work enough to forgive my literary shortcomings.

So for your reading pleasure, what follows is a list of the resources I used. If you would like to delve into the world of Shintoism and Japanese culture, I hope you find these resources as enjoyable as I have:

Books:

• The Book of Tea, by Okakura Kakuzō
• Come and Sleep: The Folklore of the Japanese Fox, by Christopher Kincaid
• Shinto: The Ancient Religion of Japan, by W. G. Aston
• In Ghostly Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn
• Behind the Japanese Mask, by Jonathan Rice
• The Cult of the Fox: Power, Gender, and Popular Religion in Late Imperial and Modern China, by Xiaofei Kang

Journals:

• Far Eastern Fox Lore, by T. W. Johnson (4/6/2017) (journal article: Asian Folklore Studies Vol. 33, No. 1 (1974), pp. 35-68)
• "My Own Inari": Personalization of the Deity in Inari Worship, by Karen A. Smyers (Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1/2 (Spring, 1996), pp. 85-116)
• The Goblin Fox and Badger and Other Witch Animals of Japan, by U. A. Casal (Folklore Studies Vol. 18 (1959), pp. 1-93)

Books currently being read:

• The Fox's Craft in Japanese Religion and Culture: Shapeshifters, Transformations, and Duplicities (Religion in History, Society and Culture), by Michael Bathgate
• Kitsune: Japan's Fox of Mystery, Romance & Humor, by Kiyosho Nozaki

For books and articles in the public domain, the links will take you directly to websites where you can download the text for your own perusal. Other links will take you to Amazon.com where you can get information for either ordering the work or getting info for interlibrary loan.

I hope you enjoy exploring Japan and its mysterious creatures as much as I have.