Abstract: Myths can serve as material for historiography. Myths can shape people’s perceptions of history.Historical narratives written with mythological material are called mythistory.The mythistory embodies the cultural cognition of ‘self’ and ‘other’.Nishan Shaman is a mythistorical narrative of the Manchus, which reflects the decline of the shaman's historical status.For modern society, Nishan Shaman belongs to mythistoric cognition.

Key words: myth, cognition, mythistory, Nishan Shaman, Ullben, shaman, literary anthropology