Kojiki
Encyclopedia
is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan
, dating from the early 8th century (711-2) and composed by Ō no Yasumaro
at the request of Empress Gemmei
. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami
. Along with the Nihon Shoki
, the myths contained in the Kojiki are part of the inspiration behind Shinto
practices and myths, including the misogi
purification ritual.
with a heavy mixture of Japanese elements, the songs are written with Chinese character
s that are only used to convey sounds. This special use of Chinese characters is called Man'yōgana, a knowledge of which is critical to understanding these songs, which are in the dialect of the Yamato
area from about the 7th century to the 8th century CE. The dialect is called Jōdai Nihongo (lit. "upper-aged Japanese
"). In English
, this is most commonly called Old Japanese
.
The Kojiki is divided into three parts: Kamitsumaki ("upper roll"), Nakatsumaki ("middle roll") and Shimotsumaki ("lower roll").
The "Kamitsumaki" includes the preface
and is focused on the deities of creation and the births of various deities.
The "Nakatsumaki" begins with the story of Emperor Jimmu
, the first Emperor
, and his conquest of Japan, and ends with the 15th Emperor, Emperor Ōjin
. Many of the stories it contains are mythological, and the allegedly historical information in them is highly suspect. For unknown reasons, the 2nd to 9th Emperors are listed but their achievements are largely missing. Recent studies support the view that these emperors were invented to push Jimmu's reign further back to the year 660 BC.
The "Shimotsumaki" covers the 16th to 33rd emperors and, unlike previous volumes, has very limited references to the interactions with deities. These interactions are so prominent in the first and second volumes. Information about the 24th to the 33rd emperors are largely missing, as well.
In the Edo period
, Motoori Norinaga
studied the Kojiki intensively, the results of which were published in his Kojiki-den ("Kojiki commentary"). It was first claimed in the Edo period that the Kojiki may have been forged later than it was supposed to have been written.
The first and best-known English translation
of the Kojiki was made by the renowned Japanologist Basil Hall Chamberlain
. More recently, a translation by Donald L. Philippi
was published by University of Tokyo Press
in June 1977 (ISBN 0-86008-320-9).
The Shinpukuji-bon manuscript (1371–1372) is the oldest existing manuscript. While divided into the Ise branch, it is actually a mixture of the two branches. The monk Ken'yu based his copy on Ōnakatomi Sadayo's copy. In 1266, Sadayo copied volumes one and three, but did not have access to the second volume. Finally, in 1282, he obtained access the second volume through a Urabe-branch manuscript that he used to transcribe.
Library: 1644 manuscript, three volumes
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, dating from the early 8th century (711-2) and composed by Ō no Yasumaro
O no Yasumaro
was a Japanese nobleman, bureaucrat, and chronicler. He may have been the son of , a participant in the Jinshin War of 672.He is most famous for compiling and editing, with the assistance of Hieda no Are, the Kojiki, the oldest extant Japanese history. Empress Genmei was a Japanese nobleman,...
at the request of Empress Gemmei
Empress Gemmei
, also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Gemmei's reign spanned the years 707 through 715....
. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami
Kami
is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
. Along with the Nihon Shoki
Nihon Shoki
The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...
, the myths contained in the Kojiki are part of the inspiration behind Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
practices and myths, including the misogi
Misogi
is a Japanese mountain ascetic practice of ritual purification. This may be undertaken through exhaustive activities such as extended periods without sleep, breath training, standing under waterfalls, or other methods...
purification ritual.
Structure
The Kojiki contains various songs/poems. While the historical records and myths are written in a form of ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
with a heavy mixture of Japanese elements, the songs are written with Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s that are only used to convey sounds. This special use of Chinese characters is called Man'yōgana, a knowledge of which is critical to understanding these songs, which are in the dialect of the Yamato
Yamato
Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan. Later the term was used as the name of the province and also as an ancient name of Japan...
area from about the 7th century to the 8th century CE. The dialect is called Jōdai Nihongo (lit. "upper-aged Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
"). In English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, this is most commonly called Old Japanese
Old Japanese language
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language.This stage in the development of Japanese is still actively studied and debated, and key Old Japanese texts, such as the Man'yōshū, remain obscure in places.-Dating:...
.
The Kojiki is divided into three parts: Kamitsumaki ("upper roll"), Nakatsumaki ("middle roll") and Shimotsumaki ("lower roll").
The "Kamitsumaki" includes the preface
Preface
A preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
and is focused on the deities of creation and the births of various deities.
The "Nakatsumaki" begins with the story of Emperor Jimmu
Emperor Jimmu
was the first Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He is also known as Kamuyamato Iwarebiko and personally as Wakamikenu no Mikoto or Sano no Mikoto....
, the first Emperor
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
, and his conquest of Japan, and ends with the 15th Emperor, Emperor Ōjin
Emperor Ojin
, also known as Homutawake or , was the 15th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 270 to 310....
. Many of the stories it contains are mythological, and the allegedly historical information in them is highly suspect. For unknown reasons, the 2nd to 9th Emperors are listed but their achievements are largely missing. Recent studies support the view that these emperors were invented to push Jimmu's reign further back to the year 660 BC.
The "Shimotsumaki" covers the 16th to 33rd emperors and, unlike previous volumes, has very limited references to the interactions with deities. These interactions are so prominent in the first and second volumes. Information about the 24th to the 33rd emperors are largely missing, as well.
In History
The Kojiki was not regarded as an official history in the medieval period, but was preserved by diligent historians.In the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, Motoori Norinaga
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of Kokugaku active during the Edo period. He is probably the best known and most prominent of all scholars in this tradition.-Life:...
studied the Kojiki intensively, the results of which were published in his Kojiki-den ("Kojiki commentary"). It was first claimed in the Edo period that the Kojiki may have been forged later than it was supposed to have been written.
The first and best-known English translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
of the Kojiki was made by the renowned Japanologist Basil Hall Chamberlain
Basil Hall Chamberlain
Basil Hall Chamberlain was a professor of Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late 19th century. He also wrote some of the earliest translations of haiku into English...
. More recently, a translation by Donald L. Philippi
Don Philippi
Don Philippi was a noted translator of Japanese and Ainu and a musician.Born in Los Angeles, Philippi studied at the University of Southern California before going to Japan in 1957 on a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Kokugakuin University...
was published by University of Tokyo Press
University of Tokyo Press
The is a university press affiliated with the University of Tokyo in Japan. It was founded in 1951, following the post-World War II reorganization of the university.-Location:...
in June 1977 (ISBN 0-86008-320-9).
Manuscripts
There are two major branches of Kojiki manuscripts: Ise and Urabe. The extant Urabe branch consists of 36 existing manuscripts all based on the 1522 copies by Urabe Kanenaga. The Ise branch may be subdivided into the manuscript of 1371-1372 and the manuscripts. The Dōka sub-branch consists of:- the manuscript of 1381; only the first half of the first volume remains
- the manuscript of 1424; only the first volume remains, and there are many defects
- the manuscript of 1426; one volume
The Shinpukuji-bon manuscript (1371–1372) is the oldest existing manuscript. While divided into the Ise branch, it is actually a mixture of the two branches. The monk Ken'yu based his copy on Ōnakatomi Sadayo's copy. In 1266, Sadayo copied volumes one and three, but did not have access to the second volume. Finally, in 1282, he obtained access the second volume through a Urabe-branch manuscript that he used to transcribe.
See also
- Atsuta ShrineAtsuta Shrineis a Shinto shrine traditionally believed to have been established during the reign of Emperor Keikō located in Atsuta-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in Japan. The shrine is familiarly known as Atsuta-Sama or simply as Miya...
- The White Hare of InabaHare of InabaThe Hare of Inaba can refer to two distinct Japanese myths.-Kojiki version:This version originates from the oldest surviving book in Japan, the Kojiki. In this version of the myth, a hare tricks some sharks into being used as a land bridge, in order to travel from the Island of Oki to Cape Keta...
- Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo
- HistoriographyHistoriographyHistoriography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
- International Research Center for Japanese StudiesInternational Research Center for Japanese StudiesThe , or Nichibunken , is an inter-university research institute in Kyoto. Along with the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the National Museum of Japanese History, and the National Museum of Ethnology, it is one of the National Institutes for the Humanities...
- KokkiKokki, alternatively known as Kuni tsu Fumi and literally meaning "National Record", is a historical text purported to have been written in 620 by Shōtoku Taishi and Soga no Umako. It is recorded in the Nihon Shoki, but there are no known extant copies...
- KujikiKujiki, or , is a historical Japanese text. It was generally believed to have been one of the earliest Japanese histories until the middle of the Edo period, when scholars such as Tokugawa Mitsukuni successfully contended that it was an imitation based on the Nihon Shoki, the Kojiki and the Kogo Shūi...
- KyūjiKyuji, also known as and , is an ancient Japanese historical text. Its existence is recorded in the Kojiki which claims to have been composed based on its contents...
- MahorobaMahorobaMahoroba is an ancient Japanese word describing a far-off land full of bliss and peace. It is roughly comparable to the western concepts of arcadia, a place surrounded by mountains full of harmony and quiet....
- Nihon ShokiNihon ShokiThe , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...
- Philosophy of HistoryPhilosophy of historyThe term philosophy of history refers to the theoretical aspect of history, in two senses. It is customary to distinguish critical philosophy of history from speculative philosophy of history...
- TeikiTeikiThe is a historical text purported to have been compiled in 681. The text is no longer extant.-Background:According to the Nihon Shoki: On the seventeenth day, the emperor, residing in his place in the Daigokuden, commanded Prince Kawashima, Prince Osakabe [etc...] to record a definitive edition...
- TennōkiTennoki, alternatively known as Sumera Mikoto no Fumi, is a historical text purported to have been written in 620 by Shōtoku Taishi and Soga no Umako. It is recorded in the Nihon Shoki, but no extant copies are known to exist....
External links
The Internet Sacred Text Archive: Chamberlain's 1919 translation of Kojiki. Online original text of Kojiki and other texts Waseda UniversityWaseda University
, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
Library: 1644 manuscript, three volumes