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Corea the Hermit Nation; I. Ancient and Mediaeval History. Ii. Political and Social Corea. Iii. Modern and Recent History
Corea the Hermit Nation I Ancient and Mediaeval History Ii Political and Social Corea Iii Modern and Recent History Author:William Elliot Griffis General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1885 Original Publisher: C. Scribner's sons Subjects: Korea History / Asia / China History / Asia / Korea Literary Criticism / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you... more » buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER VHI. JAPAN AND COREA. It is as nearly impossible to write the history of Corea and exclude Japan, as to tell the story of mediaeval England and leave out France. Not alone does the finger of sober history point directly westward as the immediate source of much of what has been hitherto deemed of pure Japanese origin, but the fountain-head of Japanese mythology is found in the Sungari valley, or under the shadows of the Ever-White Mountains. The first settler of Japan, like him of Fuyu, crosses the water upright upon the back of a fish, and brings the rudiments of literature and civilization with him. The remarkable crocodiles and sea-monsters, from which the gods and goddesses are born and into which they change, the dragons and tide-jewels and the various mystic symbols which they employ to work their spells, the methods of divination and system of prognostics, the human sacrifices and the manner of their rescue, seem to be common to the nations on both sides of the Sea of Japan, and point to a common heritage from the same ancestors. Language comes at last with her revelations to furnish proofs of identity. The mischievous Susanoo, so famous in the pre-historic legends, told in the Kojiki, half scamp, half benefactor, who planted all Japan with trees, brought the seeds from which they grew from Corea. His rescue of the maiden doomed to be devoured by the eight-headed dragon (emblem of water, and symbolical of the sea and rivers) reads like a gallant fellow sa...« less