COMMITTED TO MEMORY FROM WORKS OF ANCIENT LORE OF THE
IMPERIAL FAMILY (帝記TEIKI) AND OF ANCIENT RITUAL WORDS AND
SONGS
(旧辞KYUJI) BY A PERSON NAMED HIEDA NO ARE稗田阿礼、SAID
TO HAVE BEEN A
LOWER RANKING SCRIBE AT THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR TENMU天武天皇
C.672-694. SOME SAY HIEDA WAS FEMALE WHICH WOULD MAKE HER
MORE OF A
SHAMANESS THAN A HISTORIAN. WHAT SHE HAD LEARNED WAS WRITTEN
DOWN,
IT IS SAID, BY THE AUTHOR OF THE KOJIKI'S PREFACE, A MAN
WHOSE NAME WAS
OO NO YASUMARO太安麻呂（DIED 723 AD）. SURPRISINGLY,
HIS SIMPLE GRAVE
HAS BEEN FOUND IN RECENT YEARS. NOTHING IS KNOWN OF HIEDA NO
ARE.
MAIN POINTS:
THE FIRST BOOK OF JAPANESE HISTORY AND LITERATURE WHICH
CONTAINS THREE MAJOR DIVISIONS:
BOOK I: THE GENESIS MYTH OF THE ORIGINS OF THE JAPANESE
PEOPLE
AND ISLANDS, CHARACTERIZED BY A HEAVENLY MALE AND FEMALE GOD
AND GODDESS (IZANAGI NO MIKOTOいざなぎの命AND IZANAMI
NO
MIKOTOいざなみの命) WHO INVITE EACH OTHER TO DANCE
AROUND A PILLAR,
AND WHO THEN JOIN THEIR GENITALS IN A FAMILIAR MANNER AND
THUS CREATE
OTHER GODS AND NATURAL PHENOMENA, INCLUDING THE ISLANDS OF
JAPAN.
THE FAMILAIR EPITHET OF JAPAN AS 'COUNTRY OF THE EIGHT
ISLANDS' COMES FROM
THIS EPISODE.
THE EIGHT ISLANDS (八島やつしま)ARE: AWAJI淡路、SHIKOKU四国,
OKI隠岐、
KYUSHU九州、IKI壱岐、TSUSHIMA対馬、 SADO佐渡、AND
HONSHU本州。
OTHER FAMILIAR STORIES IN BOOK I INCLUDE THE BIRTH OF THE SUN
GODDESS
WHOSE NAME IS AMATERASU OOMIKAMI天照大御神. BORN FROM
THE LEFT EYE OF
THE MALE GOD IZANAGI NO MIKOTO. SHE BECOMES THE PRIMARY
FIGURE ON THE LAND
OF THE HEAVENLY PLAINS (TAKAMA GA HARA高天原). WHEN SHE
GOES INTO HIDING IN A
CAVE, DARKNESS DESCENDS UPON THE WORLD. SHE IS COAXED BACK BY
THE LEWD
DANCING OF A MAIDEN WHO NAME IS AMA NO UZUME. LIGHT RETURNS
TO THE WORLD
AND THE SACRED MIRROR BECOMES THE SYMBOL OF AMATERASU AND
LATER,
BECAUSE HER DESCENDANTS BECOME THE EMPERORS OF JAPAN, THE
SYMBOL OF
IMPERIAL AUTHORITY. THE MIRROR IS SAID TO BE ENSHRINED AT ISE
WHERE ONE FINDS
THE GRAND SHRINE TO AMATERASU TODAY. IT IS PART OF THE
NATIONAL PARKS SYSTEM
OF JAPAN.
BOOK I ENDS WITH THE STORY OF THE TWO BROTHERS HODERI NO
MIKOTO (FIRE-SHINE)
WHO TOOK HIS LIVLIHOOD FROM THE SEA AND HENCE WAS KNOWN AS
UMISACHIBIKO
(LUCK OF THE SEA) AND HOORI NO MIKOTO (FIRE-FADE WHO TOOK HIS
LIVLIHOOD
FROM THE MOUNTAINS AND HENCE WAS KNOWN AS YAMASACHIBIKO
(LUCK OF THE MOUNTAINS). THE TWO MEN EXCHANGE THEIR RIGHTFUL
OCCUPATIONS,
ENCOUNTER TRIALS, OVERCOME THEIR DIFFICULTIES. IN THE END,
'FIRE-FADE'
SUBDUES HIS ELDER BROTHER WITH MAGIC HE HAS OBTAINED FROM
LIVING
THREE YEARS IN THE OCEAN DEPTHS. WHILE THERE HE HAS MARRIED
TOYOTAMAHIME,
THE DAUGHTER OF THE GOD OF THE SEA. SHE FOLLOWS HIM BACK TO
THE MORTAL
WORLD AND GIVES BIRTH TO AN INFANT SON IN A HUT BY THE
SEASIDE
THATCHED WITH CORMORANT FEATHERS. ACCORDING TO THE LEGEND,
THE SON OF THIS DEITY, BORN OF PRINCESS TOYOTAMA, BECOMES THE
FIRST
EMPEROR OF JAPAN. HIS NAME WAS JIMMU.
BOOK II: THOUGH THIS SECTION TAKES ITS HINT FROM THE
MIRACULOUS STORIES OF
BOOK II, THE STYLE OF WRITING BECOMES MUCH MORE FACTUAL AND
DEALS WITH THE
LIVES AND REIGNS OF THE JAPANESE EMPERORS. SEVERAL CHARACTERS
EMERGE FROM
THESE ACCOUNTS OF IMPERIAL DEEDS WHO LIVE AND DIE AS ORDINARY
MORTALS,
BUT ACCOMPLISH SUPER-HUMAN FEATS. I CALL THESE DEMI-GODS, OR
QUASI-HEROES
WHO COMBINE THE BEST QUALITIES OF GODS AND MORTALS.
THE BEST EXAMPLE OF SUCH A STORY IS THAT OF 'THE BRAVE OF
YAMATO'
( 倭建命YAMATO TAKERU NO MIKOTO), A SON OF THE EMPEROR
KEIKO
(3RD TO 4TH CENTURY A.D.?), WHO, AFTER MURDERING HIS BROTHER,
WAS SENT BY HIS FATHER TO SUBDUE THE BARBARIAN TRIBES OF THE
KUMA
AND SO IN THE SOUTH. WHILE ENGAGED IN PACIFYING THE EASTERN
AREAS,
HIS LEGS GIVE OUT AND HE DIES ON THE PLAINS OF NOBO, NEAR
MODERN NAGOYA.
HE IS BURIED IN A GREAT TOMB, AND IS REBORN AS A WHITE BIRD.
THE FUNERAL SONGS READ ON THE DEATH OF AN EMPEROR IN JAPAN
TODAY
ARE THOSE SUNG AT THE DEATH OF YAMATO TAKERU.
ANOTHER INTERESTING FIGURE IN BOOK II IS THE EMPRESS JINGU
（神功皇后）, SPOUSE OF THE EMPEROR CHUAI WHO, WHILE
DOING BATTLE WITH
THE KUMA AND THE SO AS HAD HER IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR YAMATO
TAKERU,
HEARS OF THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, AND PROCEEDS , WITH HER
FATHER
AND WHILE PREGNANT, INTO BATTLE AGAINST THE SILLA COURT ON
THE KOREAN
PENINSULA. ON HER VICTORY, SHE RETURNS TO KYUSHU TO GIVE
BIRTH TO A SON WHO
LATER BECOMES THE EMPEROR OJIN. IT IS SAID THAT SHE REMAINED
AS
REGENT TO THE CROWN PRINCE FOR THE NEXT 69 YEARS.
KOREAN SCHOLARS HAVE LONG HELD THIS STORY TO BE COMPLETELY
MISTAKEN
AND FALSE, YET THERE IS NO OTHER WRITTEN RECORD IN ANY
LANGUAGE TO
SUBSTANTIATE ANOTHER STORY. AS HISTORY, THE STORIES OF BOOK
II ARE
BETTER REGARDED AS MYTH AND LEGEND, THAN AS TRUTH. VERY
LITTLE
EVIDENCE EXISTS, OTHER THAN THE ASSUMED SITE OF THE IMPERIAL
TOMBS
OF THE EMPERORS LISTED ABOVE, TO TAKE THESE STORIES OUT OF
THE
REALM OF MYTH. NEVERTHELESS, THESE ACCOUNTS REMAIN
FASCINATING
FOR THEIR LITERARY QUALITIES.
BOOK III: PERHAPS THE MOST ACCURATE IN HISTORICAL DETAIL AND
HENCE
THE LEAST INTERESTING OF THE THREE SECTIONS OF THE KOJIKI,
SOME VERY RAW AND REAL STORIES DO EMERGE FROM THE MASS OF
DETAIL ON
IMPERIAL REIGNS. THE MOST SUSTAINED STORY AND THE MOST
INTERESTING
FROM A LITERARY STANDPOINT IS THE LOVE STORY OF A BROTHER AND
A SISTER,
A CROWN PRINCE NO LESS, WHOSE FINAL END IS EXILE AND LOVE
SUICIDE.
THEME:
BOOK I: THE GENESIS MYTH
BOOK II: THE FEATS THAT BUILD AN IMPERIAL STATE
BOOK III: THE GREAT DEEDS AND EVENTS THAT SHAPED THE YAMATO
COURT BEFORE,
DURING, AND SLIGHTLY AFTER
THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CULTURE FROM MAINLAND CHINA
AND THE KOREAN
PENINSULA IN THE 6TH CENTURY A.D.
LITERARINESS:
MIRACULOUS STORIES FILLED WITH 113 SONGS THAT, ALTHOUGH OF AN
IRREGULAR LINE LENGTH AND OF A STYLE AND CONTENT THAT WAS
NOT TO BECOME THE MAINSTREAM OF JAPANESE POETIC TRADITION,
ARE MARVELOUSLY ORIGINAL.
SAMPLE SECTIONS:
BOOK I: THE LUCK OF THE SEA AND THE LUCK OF THE MOUNTAINS
"Fire-shine was a prince who got his luck on the sea,
and caught things broad of fin and narrow of fin."
(Keene 54-58)
故、火照命は海さちびこと為て、鰭（はた）の広物、
鰭 の狭物を取り…。
BOOK II: EMPEROR OJIN - SONG OF PROPOSAL
"This crab - where does it come from?
(Bownas 3-4)
この蟹や 何処の蟹 百伝ふ 角鹿の蟹 …。
BOOK II: THE BRAVE OF YAMATO (YAMATO TAKERU)
BOOK III:LOVE AFFAIR BETWEEN A BROTHER AND SISTER, CROWN
PRINCE KINASHI NO KARU AND KARU NO
OOIRATSUME.
"We built mountain paddies
On the broad-flanked hills...." (Bownas 4)
あしひきの 山田を作り…
"...I and my beloved,
Let there be tangle and chaos..." (Bownas 5)
さ寝しさ寝てば 刈り薦の 乱れば乱れ…
The entire sequence of incest poems between Kinashi no Karu
and his sister can be found as Kojiki
poems #78-90 in Cranston, pp. 46-53 (see bibliographic
information above).
