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Culture & Travel

Japanese Lore

A deep dive into Japanese myth, religion, folklore, and the uncanny — Shinto and its kami, the yōkai bestiary, the kaidan ghost-story tradition, and the blurred line between legend and history — with every real, visitable place named and located, so the course doubles as a travel atlas.

Made for Anyone drawn to Japanese culture and planning to travel there: it teaches the myth, the monsters, and the history, and points at the shrines, museums, and haunted places where you can stand in the middle of them.

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The full route

Curriculum

Lessons build in sequence, but you can revisit any topic whenever you need it.

  1. 01

    Course 1

    Japanese Lore

    The full arc — Shinto and the kami, the yōkai canon, the ghost-story tradition and its real haunted places, and the texts, emperors, and people that turned myth into history and history into legend.

    24 lessons
    01 Shinto: Kami, Shrines, and Practice 5 lessons
    1. 01 What Shinto Is (and Isn't)
    2. 02 The Shrine: Architecture and Sacred Space
    3. 03 Practice: How to Visit, Pray, and Read Your Fortune
    4. 04 The Great Kami I: Izanagi's Children — Amaterasu, Susanoo, Tsukuyomi
    5. 05 The Great Kami II: Inari, Hachiman, Tenjin, and the Wind–Thunder Pair
    02 Yōkai and Folklore 5 lessons
    1. 01 What Yōkai Are — and Who Wrote Them Down
    2. 02 The Heavy Hitters: Oni and Tengu
    3. 03 The Tricksters: Kitsune and Tanuki
    4. 04 The Dangerous Landscape: Kappa, Yuki-onna, and the Mountain Crones
    5. 05 Yūrei and Tsukumogami: Ghosts, Grudges, and the Souls of Tools
    03 Kaidan: Ghost Stories and Haunted Places 4 lessons
    1. 01 The Kaidan Tradition: A Hundred Candles
    2. 02 Yotsuya Kaidan: Oiwa
    3. 03 Banchō Sarayashiki: Okiku and the Nine Plates
    4. 04 Eerie Places, Handled Honestly
    04 History and Legend 4 lessons
    1. 01 The Books That Made the Myths: Kojiki and Nihon Shoki
    2. 02 Legendary Emperors and Heroes: Jimmu, Yamato Takeru, Jingū—and the Regalia
    3. 03 When Buddhas Met Kami: Shinbutsu Shūgō and the Great Separation
    4. 04 Real People Who Became Legends: Seimei, Michizane, Masakado, Yoshitsune
    05 Lore on the Map 6 lessons
    1. 01 Etiquette and Practicalities at Sacred Sites
    2. 02 Kansai: Kyoto and Nara, the Lore-Dense Heart
    3. 03 Tokyo, Kantō, and Nikkō: The Layered East
    4. 04 The Deep Map: Izumo, Tōhoku, Shikoku, Kyūshū
    5. 05 Twelve Lore-Rich Attractions the Feed Almost Explains
    6. 06 Timing the Trip: Matsuri and the Lore Calendar