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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.

24 lessons ~3 h

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Who it's 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.

Unit 1

Shinto: Kami, Shrines, and Practice

5 lessons · 32 min

  1. 1 What Shinto Is (and Isn't) 6 min Start
  2. 2 The Shrine: Architecture and Sacred Space 7 min Start
  3. 3 Practice: How to Visit, Pray, and Read Your Fortune 7 min Start
  4. 4 The Great Kami I: Izanagi's Children — Amaterasu, Susanoo, Tsukuyomi 6 min Start
  5. 5 The Great Kami II: Inari, Hachiman, Tenjin, and the Wind–Thunder Pair 6 min Start
Unit 2

Yōkai and Folklore

5 lessons · 30 min

  1. 1 What Yōkai Are — and Who Wrote Them Down 6 min Start
  2. 2 The Heavy Hitters: Oni and Tengu 6 min Start
  3. 3 The Tricksters: Kitsune and Tanuki 6 min Start
  4. 4 The Dangerous Landscape: Kappa, Yuki-onna, and the Mountain Crones 6 min Start
  5. 5 Yūrei and Tsukumogami: Ghosts, Grudges, and the Souls of Tools 6 min Start
Unit 3

Kaidan: Ghost Stories and Haunted Places

4 lessons · 22 min

  1. 1 The Kaidan Tradition: A Hundred Candles 6 min Start
  2. 2 Yotsuya Kaidan: Oiwa 6 min Start
  3. 3 Banchō Sarayashiki: Okiku and the Nine Plates 5 min Start
  4. 4 Eerie Places, Handled Honestly 5 min Start
Unit 4

History and Legend

4 lessons · 27 min

  1. 1 The Books That Made the Myths: Kojiki and Nihon Shoki 6 min Start
  2. 2 Legendary Emperors and Heroes: Jimmu, Yamato Takeru, Jingū—and the Regalia 7 min Start
  3. 3 When Buddhas Met Kami: Shinbutsu Shūgō and the Great Separation 7 min Start
  4. 4 Real People Who Became Legends: Seimei, Michizane, Masakado, Yoshitsune 7 min Start
Unit 5

Lore on the Map

6 lessons · 49 min

  1. 1 Etiquette and Practicalities at Sacred Sites 7 min Start
  2. 2 Kansai: Kyoto and Nara, the Lore-Dense Heart 7 min Start
  3. 3 Tokyo, Kantō, and Nikkō: The Layered East 7 min Start
  4. 4 The Deep Map: Izumo, Tōhoku, Shikoku, Kyūshū 9 min Start
  5. 5 Twelve Lore-Rich Attractions the Feed Almost Explains 12 min Start
  6. 6 Timing the Trip: Matsuri and the Lore Calendar 7 min Start