KOJIKI

 The record of ancient matters

Ono Yasumaro
 Wrote Kojiki in712 C.E

 HIEDA no ARE- commanded by emperor

Tenmu to memorized and maintain this body
of work.
 MOTO ORI NORINAGA- wrote the
“Annotation of Kojiki in 49 volumes.
 1882- the Kojiki was translated into English
KOJIKI
 A detailed creation of deities
 Genesis myth
 The feats that build an imperial state
 The great deeds and events that shaped the
Yamato court.
Nihon Shoki
 Reference of Japanese historical events
Significance of Kojiki
 Features the “Age of Gods and Emperors
 It’s the foundation of Japans civilization
 It also accommodate Japans own culture and
society.
 KOJIKI OR FURUKOTOFUMI-also
known in english as the Record of
ancient matters
 the oldest surviving book in japan
 -the first history book of japan
 It is an important source book for
ceremonies,customs,divination and
magical practices of ancient japan.
Creation
 The very beginning of the Kojiki deals
specifically with the precursory kami,
which were created in the beginning upon
the plane of high heaven .
 The creation of the plane of high heaven is
said to have taken place amongst the events of
the Kujiki, but was lost and is unknown.
 the historical records and myths are written in
a form of Chinese with a heavy admixture of
Japanese elements

 songs are written with Chinese characters

used to convey sounds only. This special use
of Chinese characters is called Man'yōgana, a
knowledge of which is critical to
understanding these songs.
 These songs are in the dialect of the Yamato
area from about 7th century to 8th century
CE, a language called Jōdai Nihongo (lit.
"upper age Japanese").
Divisions of Kojiki
 Kamitsumaki (lit. "upper roll"),
 Nakatsumaki (lit. "middle roll"),
 Shimotsumaki (lit. "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.
 The Shimotsumaki covers the 16th to 33rd
Emperors, and, unlike previous volumes, has
very limited references to the interactions
with deities which are so prominent in the
first and second volumes. Information on the
24th to 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.
 Direction: Match column A to column B. Write the
letter only of your answer.

Column A Column B

1.Kami S. record of ancient matters

2.1882 O. wrote kojiki in 712 C.E
3.Nihon Shoki I. Foundation Japan’s civilization
4. KAmitsumaki E. reference of Japan’s historical events
5.Ono Yasumaro H. Kojiki was translated into English
6.Nakatsunaki K. “ Annotation of the Kojiki”
7. Shimotsumaki T. Devine being
8. Moto Ori Norinaga I. The lower roll
9. Significant of kojiki K. the upper roll
10.Kojiki J. the middle roll