The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters
by Ō no Yasumaro, Rumi Tani Moratalla
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"The Kojiki, previously translated as "A Record of Ancient Matters," is considered to be the first literary work in the history of Japan. It is a compilation of myths, history, songs, legends, genealogies, and other disparate works from which written history and literature were later created. The Kojiki tells of the origins of the four home islands of Japan central to the inspiration behind Shinto practices. The work moves in loosely historical progression starting with the creation of Japan show more in the age of the gods and the descent to earth of the ancestor of the imperial family through the reign of the legendary first sovereign, Emperor Jinmu, and successive rulers up to the reign of the 33rd sovereign, Empress Suiko (who reigned from 592-618). The creation myth describes the origin of Japan through a musuhi or spontaneous power through which the gods came into existence. After seven generations of gods are created by this force the last generation, male and female gods, called Ianagi and Izanami, create the islands of Japan. The two then give birth to the gods of various natural phenomena, including gods of the sea and rivers, of the mountains and plains, of the wind and, finally, of fire, who causes the death of the goddess Izanami. The male deity Izanagi then gives birth himself to the central figure in the Kojiki mythology, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Her descendant, the god Ninigi, comes down from heaven to earth and becomes the ancestor of the Yamato emperors"-- show lessTags
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This tome is often said to be the Japanese "Bible"- of course, it is really nothing of the sort, and if read it expecting that you'll be a bit surprised. In form, it is more similar to Aesop's Fables. The books consists of some basic myths of Japanese Shintoism, and the stories are often entertaining and full of bodily fluids, all of which produce hundreds of gods. A nessecary text for anyone studying religion or Japan.
Si tratta del più antico testo letterario giapponese.
Narra la protostoria del Giappone che inizia con l’emergere dell’Arcipelago dal caos primordiale.
Un'immersione totale nel pantheon nipponico: a volte terribile, altre divertente, sempre stupefacente.
Narra la protostoria del Giappone che inizia con l’emergere dell’Arcipelago dal caos primordiale.
Un'immersione totale nel pantheon nipponico: a volte terribile, altre divertente, sempre stupefacente.
The oldest surviving document from Japan. This is divided into three books; the first recounts myths concerning the creation of the earth and the acts of the gods, especially Amaterasu and Susano-no-wo. The second and third books give quasi-historical accounts of the acts of emperors, with increasing specificity towards the end.
The student of mythology will find this interesting reading, especially the first book. The translation is scholarly, with elaborate footnotes and appendices offering contextual information. The Phillipi text is commonly regarded as the standard scholarly translation, supplanting an earlier work by Basil Hall-Chamberlain (the Hall-Chamberlain text was completed in the 1890s, and translated all the "unseemly" bits show more into Latin instead of English). show less
The student of mythology will find this interesting reading, especially the first book. The translation is scholarly, with elaborate footnotes and appendices offering contextual information. The Phillipi text is commonly regarded as the standard scholarly translation, supplanting an earlier work by Basil Hall-Chamberlain (the Hall-Chamberlain text was completed in the 1890s, and translated all the "unseemly" bits show more into Latin instead of English). show less
One of the earliest collections of Japanese myths, shading into quasi-historical chronicles towards the end.
Very repetitive but very intersting for comparative purposes, as the compilers included several different versions of each of the early myths.
Very repetitive but very intersting for comparative purposes, as the compilers included several different versions of each of the early myths.
el libro historico y literario màs antiguo de Japòn
Jul 16, 2021Spanish
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- Canonical title
- The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters
- Original title
- 古事記
- Alternate titles
- The Kojiki; Records of Ancient Matters
- Original publication date
- 1882 (Chamberlain translation) (Chamberlain translation)
- People/Characters
- Izanami; Izanagi; Amaterasu; Susano-O-No-Mikoto; Tsukuyomi; Ninigi-no-Mikoto
- Important places
- Plain of High Heaven; Japan
- Important events
- Creation of the world; Birth of the gods; Establishment of Japan's Imperial House
- First words
- Of all the mass of Japanese literature, which lies before us as the result of nearly twelve centuries of book-making, the most important Monument is the work entitled "Ko-ji-ki" or "Records of Ancient Matters," which was comp... (show all)leted in A. D. 712. It is the most important because it has preserved for us more faithfully than any other book the mythology, the manners, the language, and the traditional history of Ancient Japan. Indeed it is the earliest authentic connected literary product of that large division of the human race which, has been variously denominated Turanian, Scythian and Altaic, and it even precedes by at least a century the most ancient extant literary compositions of non-Aryan India. Soon after the date of its compilation, most of the salient features of distinctive Japanese nationality were buried under a superincumbent mass of Chinese culture, and it is to these "Records" and to a very small number of other ancient works, such as the poems of the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves" and the Shintō Rituals, that the investigator must look, if he would not at every step be misled in attributing originality to modern customs and ideas, which have simply been borrowed wholesale from the neighbouring continent. (Chamberlain introduction)
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Her Augustness Toyo-mike-kashiki-ya-hime dwelt at the Palace of Wohorida, and ruled the Empire for thirty seven years. Her august mausoleum, which had been on the mound of Ohonu, was afterwards removed to the great sepulchre at Shinaga.
- Original language
- Japanese
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- Reviews
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- Rating
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- 8 — Chinese, Czech, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 30
- ASINs
- 7
