Kojiki Quotes

It was during the age of Nara that Chinese writing led to the appearance of the first real books produced in Japan, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles of 712 and 720. These were followed shortly afterwards by the first poetry anthologies, the Kaifosu (Fond Recollections of Poetry) of 751 and the Manyusho ( Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) of 759. Some documents were even printed, another Chinese influence.

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You’re not a killer, Seirin.” Sweat coated his face, speckled his clothes. “You couldn’t kill Vissyus, and you can’t kill me.” Seirin grinned maliciously. “A woman’s prerogative. I’ve had a very long time to think things over.” Botua’s charred body floated out of some locked section of her mind. Her will hardened. She’d learned the cost of hesitation. Things were different now. Lon-Shan would face justice.

Japan's ancient myths were first recorded in the late 7th century, eventually appearing as the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Things) in 712 and the Nihongi or Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) in 720. They were initiated by Emperor Temmu (r. 673-86), who wanted to legitimise the supremacy of the imperial family by giving it divine origins.

Most of experts now believe the first verifiable emperor was Söjin. The Nihon Shoki lists him as the 10th emperor and gives his death as equivalent to 30 BC, whereas the Kojiki gives it as AD 258. In fact, 318 seems most likely.

We know very little about the earliest days of the Wa. There is no written history from the ancient cultures of Japan; its oldest historical account, the Kojiki, was not written until the seventh century AD. Archaeologists, working from objects rather than stories, speak of the first era of Japanese history as the “Jomon period” Jomon means “cord marked,” and during the Jomon period, the inhabitants of the Japanese islands marked their clay by pressing braided cords into it.

Another scene from universal myth unfolds -- here powerfully reminiscent of the Underworld quests of Orpheus for Eurydice and of Demeter for Persephone. The ancient Japanese recension of this mysteriously global story is given in the Kojiki and the Nihongi, where we read that Izanagi, mourning for his dead wife, followed after her to the Land of Yomi in an attempt to bring her back to the world of the living: 'Izanagi-no-Mikoto went after Izanami-no-Mikoto and entered the Land of Yomi ... So when from the palace she raised the door and came out to meet him, Izanagi spoke saying; 'My lovely younger sister! The lands that I and thou made are not yet finished making; so come back!' Izanami is honoured by Izanagi's attention and minded to return. But there is one problem. She has already eaten food prepared in the Land of Yomi and this binds her to the place, just as the consumption of a single pomegranate seed binds Persephone to hell in the Greek myth. Is it an accident that ancient Indian myth also contains the same idea? In the Katha Upanishad a human, Nachiketas, succeeds in visiting the underworld realm of Yama, the Hindu god of Death (and, yes, scholars have noted and commented upon the weird resonance between the names and functions of Yama and Yomi). It is precisely to avoid detention in the realm of Yama that Nachiketas is warned: 'Three nights within Yama's mansion stay / But taste not, though a guest, his food.' So there's a common idea here -- in Japan, in Greece, in India -- about not eating food in the Underworld if you want to leave. Such similarities can result from common invention of the same motif -- in other words, coincidence. They can result from the influence of one of the ancient cultures upon the other two, i.e. cultural diffusion. Or they can result from an influence that has somehow percolated down to all three, and perhaps to other cultures, stemming from an as yet unidentified common source.

es evidente que el Kojiki nace como la necesidad de expresar un origen divino del imperio japonés;

Were I asked whether it would be desirable that The Tale of Genji be translated into the modern colloquial language, I would without hesitation answer yes. I am very keen to have a translation of this tale… . For translations of simple kanbun written by people of the Edo period, I see no need whatever. What I desire are translations of the truly ancient texts of this nation, such as the Kojiki. From a slightly later period, of the several fictions, a translation of The Tale of Genji is what is most needful… . Whenever I read The Tale of Genji, I always sense a certain resistance; and if that cannot be overcome, I cannot grasp the meaning of the words. The Tale of Genji, it seems to me, is written in a style that in itself, quite apart from the antiquity of the words, is by no means easy to understand.