was a
Japanese 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 , 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 imperia ...
'', the oldest extant Japanese history.
Empress Genmei (r. 707-721) charged Yasumaro with the duty of writing the ''Kojiki'' in 711 using the differing
clan chronicles and
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:
"Grave of Ancient Scholar Discovered"
''Japan Report'', April 1, 1979, p. 8
In fiction
Yasumaro appears in the video game '' Toukiden: The Age of Demons'' as a mitama (a soul of a hero from Japanese history).
Yasumaro appears in the video game '' Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' as a Great Prophet.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:O No Yasumaro
People of Nara-period Japan
723 deaths
Year of birth unknown
Deified Japanese people