A symbolic usage of the boat in Japanese mythology
A symbolic usage of the boat in Japanese mythology

Summary/Abstract: An instrument of discovery and initiation, the boat is a symbolic element in many important myths. In Egypt the boat was the “vehicle” that enabled the Sun’s journey across the sky, as well as the journey of the souls to the other world. Actually, in the esoteric traditions the boat is often a symbol of the knowledge beyond death. In Japanese myth we have the famous ama no iwabune, from the Jimmu story, as well as some interesting examples of symbolic uses of fune in Many􀅮sh􀅺 poems. This paper compares these instances with many other mythological traditions and leaves a few open questions. The method and ideology that underlies my research comes from the work of René Guénon, as is best illustrated in his “Symboles fonadamentaux de la Science Sacrée”, namely that myth is not a collective creation, but a really symbolic perpetuation of a much older esoteric knowledge that would have otherwise been lost, unless placed for safety in the oral, collective transmission.

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