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Kojiki
The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperial line. It is claimed in its preface to have been composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Genmei in the early 8th century (711–712), and thus is usually considered to be the oldest extant literary work in Japan. The myths contained in the as well as the are part of the inspiration behind many practices. Later, they were incorporated into Shinto practices such as the purification ritual. Composition It is believed that the compilation of various genealogical and anecdotal histories of the imperial (Yamato) court and prominent clans began during the reigns of Emperors Keitai and Kinmei in the 6th century, with the first concerted effort at historical compilation of which we have record being the one made in 620 under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoists'', although adherents rarely use that term themselves. There is no central authority in control of Shinto, with much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheistic and animistic religion, Shinto revolves around supernatural entities called the . The are believed to inhabit all things, including forces of nature and prominent landscape locations. The are worshiped at household shrines, family shrines, and ''jinja'' public shrines. The latter are staffed by priests, known as , who oversee offerings of food and drink to the specific enshrined at that location. This is done to cultivate harmony between humans and and to solicit the latter's blessing. Other common rituals include the dances, rites of pass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kojiki-den
The ''Kojiki-den'' (古事記伝) is a 44-volume commentary on the ''Kojiki'' written by the ''kokugaku'' scholar Motoori Norinaga. Overview The ''Kojiki-den'' is a commentary on the ''Kojiki'', an eighth-century work of Shinto historiography and mythology, by the Edo period ''kokugaku'' scholar Motoori Norinaga. Background Motoori Norinaga was attracted to Shinto, as well as ''waka'' and ''monogatari'', from a young age. While studying in Kyoto in the seventh month of the sixth year of Hōreki (1756), he purchased a copy of the Kan'ei edition of the ''Kojiki'', so it is thought that he read the work shortly after this point. His early writings following this date, such as the 1758 '' Aware Ben'' (安波礼弁) and '' Ashiwake Obune'' (排蘆小船) were more focused on the '' Nihon Shoki''. In the 1761 '' Ame Tsuchi no Ben'' (阿毎菟知弁), he had moved toward placing more value on linguistic scholarship and attacked the ''Nihon Shoki''s Chinese for being a barrier to rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of ''Kokugaku'' active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies. Life Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie Prefecture). His ancestors were vassals of the Kitabatake clan in Ise Province for many generations. However, in the early Edo period they abandoned their samurai status, changing their surname to Ozu, and relocated to Matsusaka, where they became cotton wholesalers. The family initially prospered and had a store in Edo as well. (The film director Yasujirō Ozu was a descendant of the same line). After his elder brother's death, Norinaga succeeded to the Ozu line. At one stage he was adopted out to a paper-making family but the bookish boy was not suited to business. It was at his mother's suggestion that, at the age of 22, Norinaga went to Kyoto to study medicine. In Kyoto, he also studied Chinese and Japanese philology under the neo-Confuci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hieda No Are
is primarily known for being instrumental to the compilation of the Japanese text '' Kojiki'' in 712. While birth and date are unknown, Are was active during the late 7th and early 8th century. Background Very little is known about Are's background. A passage in the ''Seikyūki'' (西宮記) suggests that Are belongs to the Sarume-no-kimi family, who trace their ancestry back to the goddess Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto.Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten Henshū Iinkai (1986:1518) Scholars such as Kunio Yanagita and Saigō Nobutsuna theorize that Are was a woman. Are was given the title of , which is typically a male title.Kurano (1958:46–47) However, members of the Sarume-no-kimi family are renowned as shrine maidens to the court, a female institution. In addition, a number of passages within the ''Kojiki'' appear to have been written by a woman. Kojiki During the 7th century, Emperor Tenmu set about to correct inconsistencies within the national history contained in the various ''Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kami
are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the spirits of venerated dead people. Many ''kami'' are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans (some ancestors became ''kami'' upon their death if they were able to embody the values and virtues of ''kami'' in life). Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor could be or became ''kami''. In Shinto, ''kami'' are not separate from nature, but are of nature, possessing positive and negative, and good and evil characteristics. They are manifestations of , the interconnecting energy of the universe, and are considered exemplary of what humanity should strive towards. ''Kami'' are believed to be "hidden" from this world, and inhabit a complementary existence that mirrors our own: . To be in harmony with the awe-inspiring aspects of nature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Keitai
(died 10 March 531) was the 26th legendary emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 継体天皇 (26)/ref> 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 3 March 507 to 10 March 531. Legendary narrative Keitai is considered to have ruled the country during the early-6th century, but there is a paucity of information about him. There is insufficient material available for further verification and study. Significant differences exist in the records of the ''Kojiki'' and the '' Nihon Shoki''. The ''Kojiki'' puts this emperor's birth year at 485; and his date of death is said to have been April 9, 527.Japanese dates correspond to the traditional lunisolar calendar used in Japan until 1873. In the extant account, he is called . The ''Nihon Shoki'' gives his birth year at 450; and he is said to have died on February 7, 531 or 534. In this hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ō No Yasumaro
was a Japanese people, Japanese Nobility, nobleman, bureaucrat, and chronicler. He may have been the son of , a participant in the Jinshin War of 672.Philippi (1968:546) He is most famous for compiling and editing, with the assistance of Hieda no Are, the ''Kojiki'', the oldest extant Japanese history. Empress Genmei (r. 707-721) charged Yasumaro with the duty of writing the ''Kojiki'' in 711 using the differing Teiki, clan chronicles and Kyūji, native myths. It was finished the following year in 712.''Obunsha Japanese Encyclopedia 3rd Edition'' Yasumaro most probably also played an active role in compiling the ''Nihon Shoki'', which was finished in 720. Yasumaro became clan head in 716, and died in 723. Ō no Yasumaro Epitaph On January 20, 1979, the grave of Ō no Yasumaro was unearthed in a tea plantation in Konose Ward of Nara City. Its engraving reads: [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Kinmei
was the 29th Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 欽明天皇 (29) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)pp. 34–36 Brown, Delmer. (1979) ''Gukanshō,'' pp. 261–262; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). pp. 123–124 Richard Ponsonby-Fane, Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan,'' p. 45. His reign is said to have spanned the years from 539 to 571. Kinmei is the first historical Japanese Emperor based on historical evidence. Traditional narrative Kinmei's contemporary title would not have been ''tennō'', as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably , meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Kinmei might have been referred to as or the "Great King of Yamato". Events of Kinmei's life Because of several chronological discrepancies in the account of Emperor Kinmei in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wadō (era)
was a after ''Keiun'' and before ''Reiki (era), Reiki''. This period spanned the years from January 708 through September 715. The reigning monarch was Empress Genmei (元明天皇, Genmei-tennō). Change of era * 708 : The new era name ''Wadō'' (meaning "Japanese copper") was created because a high quality copper mine was discovered in Chichibu, Saitama, Chichibu in Musashi Province, what is now known as former Wado Mine. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in the spring of ''Keiun'' 5, on the 11th day of the 1st month of 708. The Japanese word for copper is ; and since this was indigenous copper, the ''"wa"'' (the ancient Chinese term for Japan) could be combined with the ''"dō"'' (copper) to create a new composite term -- "''wadō''"—meaning "Japanese copper". A mint was established in the province of Ōmi Province, Ōmi;Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 56. and the ''Wadō'' era is famous for the coin , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' derives from Greek (''hymnos''), which means "a song of praise". A writer of hymns is known as a hymnist. The singing or composition of hymns is called hymnody. Collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment. Although most familiar to speakers of English in the context of Christianity, hymns are also a fixture of other world religions, especially on the Indian subcontinent (''stotras''). Hymns also survive from antiquity, especially from Egyptian and Greek cultures. Some of the oldest surviving examples of notated music are hymns with Greek texts. Origins Ancient Eastern hymns include the Egyptian ''Great Hymn to the Aten'', composed by Pharaoh Akhenaten; the Hurrian ''Hy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empress Genmei
, also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd monarch of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 元明天皇 (43) retrieved August 22, 2013. according to the traditional order of succession. Genmei's reign spanned the years 707 through 715 CE. In the history of Japan, Genmei was the fourth of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. The three female monarchs before Genmei were Suiko, Kōgyoku/Saimei, and Jitō. The four women sovereigns reigning after Genmei were Genshō, Kōken/Shōtoku, Meishō, and Go-Sakuramachi. Traditional narrative Before her ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name (''imina'') was Abe''-hime''.Brown, p. 271. Empress Genmei was the fourth daughter of Emperor Tenji; and she was a younger sister of Empress Jitō by a different mother. Her mother, Mei-no-Iratsume (also known as Soga''-hime''), was a daughter of ''Udaijin'' Soga-no-Kura-no-Yamada-no-Ishikawa-no-Maro (also known as Soga Yamada-no Ō-omi). Events o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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