The sun goddess Amaterasu above a sea of clouds, still from the film
Sorcerers & Storytellers · Free guide

The Real Magic
Behind the Myths

7 Japanese rituals and sacred places from the film that you can still experience today.

Free. You’ll get a short email to confirm your address, then the guide. After that, Mark sends a handful of emails about the myths and the magic behind them, and news when a new film comes out. Unsubscribe anytime with one click. Imprint · Privacy

Inside the guide

The myths never stayed on the page

In Japan, people still do what the gods did in the oldest stories. This 11-page guide, a companion to our film The Entire Story of Japanese Mythology, takes you to seven of those places and practices.

Cover of the guide The Real Magic Behind the Myths
  • The deer-bone oracle the gods used when the sun disappeared, and the two shrines where priests still read the cracks today.
  • Uzume’s dance in front of the sun goddess’s cave, performed every night in Takachiho, and the beach in Izumo where the gods are welcomed once a year.
  • The pass to the underworld, the peaches that protect, and the mirror of the sun at Ise.
  • One small thing to do or notice at each place, whether you’re standing at the shrine gate or sitting at home.
  • Real places, real sources. Every fact is checked against the Kojiki, the Encyclopedia of Shinto and the shrines themselves, with all sources listed.
A deer's shoulder blade over a fire
Mount Mitake, TokyoWhere the deer-bone oracle is still read every New Year.
Uzume dancing on a tub in front of the gods
Takachiho, MiyazakiWhere the dance that brought back the sun is performed every night.
The white hare washing in a river
Hakuto Shrine, TottoriWhere the white hare of Inaba is honored by the sea.

Free · unsubscribe anytime · Imprint · Privacy

Who we are

Two storytellers, one passion

We tell the world’s great myths from the original sources, and show the real magic that still lives behind them.

Mark Hosak

Japanologist with a PhD from Heidelberg University and three years of research at Kyoto University. Shingon practitioner and researcher, who has walked the 88-temple pilgrimage of Shikoku on foot.

Eileen Wiesmann

Historian, and the reason our films stay honest: if the sources don’t say it, we don’t say it. She walks her own Egyptian path, and Egypt is where our next film goes.

✦

Haven’t seen the film yet? Watch “The Entire Story of Japanese Mythology” on YouTube