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Kinoko

A window into the mystical world of Japanese mushrooms
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  • author A book by
    Nathaniel Guy
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What's Inside

This unique and informative guide to Japanese mushrooms contains all of this content (and more):

Mini Field Guide

Provides a comprehensive overview of common Japanese mushrooms, including identification tips and information about their characteristics and habitats.

Mushroom Names

Delves into the colorful and interesting etymologies of these names, providing insight into the rich cultural history that contributed to various Japanese mushroom names.

Essays and Stories

Features translated works from Japanese authors about mushrooms, offering a unique and fascinating perspective on the role of these fungi in Japanese culture.

Haiku Poetry

Features new translations of over a hundred Japanese poems about mushrooms by both modern and classical poets.

Cultural Insights

Offers a deeper understanding of the role of mushrooms in Japanese culture, including their historical and spiritual significance, their place in the culinary world, and their importance in the arts.

Mushroom Phrasebook

Includes a glossary of Japanese terms related to mushrooms and mycology, as well as useful phrases for mushroom hunters and enthusiasts traveling in Japan.

Sample Pages

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  • author A book by
    Nathaniel Guy
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Who This Book Is For

These people will love this book:

Mushroom lovers


People interested in Japan


Lovers of hiking and the outdoors


Mycologists


Poets and poetry lovers


Linguists and language learners

Errata

The following errata have been found to exist in earlier versions of Kinoko. These issues may already be fixed, depending on when you purchased the book.

In the story How I Find Mushrooms, the image of the white boletes (Boletus orientialbus) was mistakenly labeled as "Kumotake." It should be "Shiro-yamadoritake" instead.

There is a mistake in the translation of the haiku by Naka Kansuke (1885 - 1965). The haiku should read Wolves wander along / mountain trails, their ways lit by / moonlit-night mushrooms.

Feel free to contact the author if you find anything else that looks wrong.

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About The Author

Nathaniel "Nat" Guy is an engineer, translator, and amateur mycologist, currently serving as an officer in the Tokyo Mushroom Society. In 2020, he developed and released the app Japanese Mushroom Dictionary: Become a Japanese myco-expert! for Android and iPhone/iPad, a digital dictionary of all of the documented Japanese common names for mushrooms and their up-to-date scientific name equivalents. In addition to accomplishments such as "finding some of the largest Boletus edulis specimens anyone in his mushroom club had ever seen" and "stumbling upon an amazing patch of Pleurocybella porrigens back in 2015," he has also worked as a Japanese-English translator on over a dozen video games and contributed software and GNC algorithms to a number of high-profile space missions.

He currently lives in Japan with his wife and two daughters. You can learn more about his work on www.natguy.net. You can contact him at nathaniel.guy@gmail.com.