This lavish retelling provides the condensed history of Japan, as far as a 2,600 years history may be told in one book. THE GODDESSES OF JAPAN tells the story from the viewpoint of women, not all of whom were celebrated. I love that we start with the Creation myth, showing how a boy and girl were sent from Heaven with a spear that helped them create new islands and when struck too hard into the tender world, produced a volcano, Mount Fuji. Even nicer is that in this mythology the Sun is a female goddess Amaterasu and the Moon is her younger brother; the genders are usually reversed in other cultures.

Moving on to establish the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan, I was intrigued to see parallels of European fairytales. One deals with the underworld. In another, the islands produced warring tribes. Three brothers were sent out with a fleet of ships bearing an army. In typical European fashion, the older brother tries bravely and fails at the task, the second brother similarly fails, and the youngest brother Iwarebiko then thinks of wise ways to win. As a direct descendant of the Sun Goddess, who has of course been watching from the sky, he is finally enthroned with the Shinto religion.

Goddess is the title for all the women of the ruling lines and we meet the first female ruler, the fifth female ruler and so on, some ruling ably, others led on by lovers to demonstrate religious fervour. We’re told a massive statue in honour of the new Chinese religion Buddhism used so much copper it bled the mines dry. The next generation had to cope and make changes to run the nation. This produced feudalism, organised by Samurai. Some Korean nationals are also welcomed, bringing new skills. When the Portuguese arrive with demonstrations of matchlock rifles, it doesn’t take long to copy the techniques. The Samurai are hidebound by their code of laws, so the way to beat them was by training unprincipled stealthy assassins, Ninja. I particularly like the tale of a troupe of female actresses, who charm their way into strongholds. These Kunoichi include a Christian woman Doshika Taka, who had been horribly abused as a slave girl, so who can blame her for learning assassin skills? 

While the names are many and placenames alter with time, I enjoyed reading the story in small doses to separate the eras. I learned a lot about Japan and its architecture and saw the topography, botany and creatures with new eyes. Telling through female eyes is a great move as we see the small details of life and learn which women had power and which had none, which had freedom – and those were often not the ones with power. Kazuko Nishimura has written several splendid histories of women and conquest, in his series The Goddesses of The World, though not all are as violent and dramatic as THE GODDESSES OF JAPAN.