Shinto: At the Fountainhead of Japan (Routledge Library Editions: Japan)

by Jean Herbert

Shinto, the national indigenous religion of Japan has supplied Japan with the basic structure of its mentality and behaviour. Although its classical texts have been translated into English this volume was the first major study of this important religion. The book is a complete picture of Shinto, its history and internal organization, its gods and mythology, its temples and priests, its moral and worship. The volume also describes the metaphysics, mystic and spiritual disciplines and overall is one of the most authentic and authoritative surveys of Shinto of the twentieth century.

624 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2010

About the author

Jean Herbert was a French Orientalist and one of the first generation of interpreters for the United Nations organization. He was chief interpreter of the United Nations interpretation service in New York.

Herbert was one of the pioneer veteran and model consecutive interpreters from the League of Nations and the International Labor Office.

He worked between World War I and World War II for different international organizations. Towards 1930, he became interested in Buddhism and the Far East prompting him to travel to India, China and other Buddhist countries, leading to the authorship of many books related to the Far East such as his Introduction to Asia. In 1946 he founded the collection Spiritualités vivantes in the publishing house Éditions Albin Michel.

He published his Manuel de l’interprete (The Interpreter’s Handbook) in 1952. He also founded and directed two collections of multilingual and technical dictionaries published by Elsevier and sponsored by the Universities of Paris, Heidelberg, Mainz, Trieste and Georgetown University. Herbert also became a vice-president — and then president — of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) for three years.

After retiring from the United Nations in 1954, Herbert continued freelancing and traveled to the Far East, Madagascar and the Middle East. He held the chair of Eastern Mythologies at the University of Geneva, where he taught from 1954 to 1964.