国生み — The Creation of the Country
This region is not difficult to visit. Trains run, signs are clear, the shrines are open. What's missing is the connective tissue — the stories that make these places more than scenic stops. This guide exists to put the myth back in the place.
The guide is structured to be read in order before your trip, then reopened section-by-section while you're there.
What kuni-umi means. Why Awaji is the first place named in the Kojiki. The geography of creation, and the three islands that all claim to be the first one.
Everything you need to know before arrival, in fifteen minutes. (Skimmable if you have read Volume I.)
The divine couple, the heavenly spear, and the islands that grew from salt drops. The opening pages of Japanese mythology, told in full.
Onokoro Jinja on the main island. Eshima off the harbour at Iwaya. Nushima ten kilometres offshore. Three real places that all claim to be the first island.
The pillar, the procession, and the eight islands of Japan being born one by one. The ritual that, in mythological time, made the country.
Yomi-no-kuni and the origin of death. Why Izanagi is enshrined at Awaji's Izanagi Jingu — the oldest shrine recorded in either the Kojiki or the Nihon Shoki.
The ferry to Nushima. Kamitategami-iwa rising thirty metres from the sea. The Iwaya harbour viewpoint. The northern coast that almost no foreign visitors see.
Highway bus times. Rental car routes. Where to eat the famous Awaji onions. Where to stay overnight near Iwaya.
How to reach Awaji from Kobe-Sannomiya, Tokushima, Osaka Itami, or Kansai International.
Heldt's translation of the Kojiki. Heading next to Izumo, where the trail continues with the kuni-yuzuri.
The Kojiki Trail Society is a small editorial group based in Nara — the city where the Kojiki was written, and the original capital of the eight million gods. We work to bring Japan's oldest stories to English readers. We grew up with these myths the way English-speakers grow up with Greek and Norse legend — half-remembered from childhood, then rediscovered through travel and study as adults.
Most English-language books on Japanese mythology are written by Western academics or hobbyists. Many are excellent — Heldt's translation of the Kojiki is a masterpiece, and Cali & Dougill's work on Shinto shrines is indispensable. But they read, often beautifully, like books written from the outside looking in.
We built this guide for a different reader: the curious traveler who wants the stories alive and the places woven through them. Every site in this volume has been visited multiple times by our editors. Every audio narration was recorded on location. Every recommendation is one we would give a friend.
Yes. About a third of buyers read the guide for the stories alone. The Kojiki is one of the great mythological texts of world literature, and most readers find that the structure of "story → place → practical" makes the myths far easier to remember than reading them as straight text. You can read the whole guide on a Sunday afternoon. If you do visit Japan later, you'll still have it.
Those resources are excellent at telling you what to see. They are not designed to tell you why these places matter or what stories happened there. This guide is the opposite: every site is introduced through its myth, and the practical detail follows the story rather than substituting for it. The two work well together.
No. The opening chapter is a fifteen-minute crash course covering everything you need: the key gods, what a shrine is, how Shinto differs from Buddhism, and the basic shape of the Kojiki. By the end of that chapter, every name and concept used later in the guide will feel familiar.
The main file is a PDF, designed for both desktop reading (two-page spread) and phone reading (single column reflows automatically). The audio is delivered as MP3 files, playable on any device. The Google Map opens in the standard Maps app, and you can save it for offline use. No app to download, no DRM, no expiration.
Email us within 30 days and we will refund you in full, no questions, no need to return anything. The risk on this purchase is ours, not yours.
Yes. This is part of a planned five-volume series covering Awaji, Izumo, Takachiho, Ise, and Asuka. Buyers of any volume receive a 30% loyalty discount on every future volume, automatically applied at checkout. See the next section for the full series roadmap.
The Kojiki Trail is a five-volume series, one for each region of the original mythological cycle. Buyers of any volume receive a 30% loyalty discount on all future volumes for life.
The volumes can be read in any sequence. They are released in the order shown above.
This volume is currently in production, releasing Q3 2026. Subscribe below to be notified the day it goes live, and you will receive a launch-week discount.