Kyūji Aozora
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Kyūji Aozora
, also known as and , is an ancient Japanese historical text. Its existence is recorded in the ''Kojiki'' which claims to have been composed based on its contents. No extant copies are known to exist anymore. According to the ''Kojiki'' preface, Emperor Tenmu said: What I hear is that the '' Teiki'' and ''Honji'' brought about by the many houses already differ from the truth and contain many inaccuracies. Should those mistakes not be corrected now, the original meaning will be lost within but a few years. They are the basis of the national system and are the foundation of the imperial government. Thus, I would like to carefully examine the ''Teiki'' and ''Kyūji'', remove the errors, and establish the truth for future generations. The preface goes on to state that the emperor dictates the ''Teiki'' and ''Kyūji'' to Hieda no Are, but that the emperor dies before the task is completed. The task was revived several years later during the reign of Empress Genmei:At this point, regre ...
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Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ...
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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 and unified "Shinto orthodoxy". 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 ...
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Emperor Tenmu
was the 40th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 天武天皇 (40) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53. He ascended to the throne following the Jinshin War, during which his army defeated that of Emperor Kōbun. Tenmu reigned from 673 until his death in 686, amid Hakuhō period or the late Asuka period. During his reign, Tenmu implemented political and military reforms, consolidating imperial power and centralizing governance. His foreign policy favored the Korean kingdom of Silla while severing diplomatic relations with the Tang dynasty of China. He used religious structures to bolster the imperial authority, building several Buddhist temples including Yakushi-ji and monasteries as well as strengthening ties with the Ise Shrine. He was succeeded by his wife, Empress Jitō. Tenmu is the first monarch of Japan contemporaneously documented as us ...
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Teiki
The is a historical text purported to have been compiled in 681. The text is no longer extant. Background According to the ''Nihon Shoki'': On the seventeenth day, the emperor, residing in his place in the Daigokuden, commanded Prince Kawashima, Prince Osakabe tc...to record a definitive edition of the ''Teiki'' and ''Jōko Shoji''. According to the Kojiki preface, Emperor Tenmu said: What I hear is that the ''Teiki'' and ''Honji'' brought about by the many houses already differ from the truth and contain many inaccuracies. Should those mistakes not be corrected now, the original meaning will be lost within but a few years. They are the basis of the national system and are the foundation of the imperial government. Thus, I would like to carefully examine the ''Teiki'' and ''Kyūji'', remove the errors, and establish the truth for future generations. He then had Hieda no Are memorize the contents of the ''Teiki'' and '' Kyūji'', both of which were later used as historical sourc ...
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Hieda No Are
is primarily known for being instrumental to the compilation of the Japanese text '' Kojiki'' in 712. While birth and death 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 was a Japanese author, scholar, and Folklore studies, folklorist. He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to a change in his career. His pursuit of this led to his eventual e ... 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 fe ...
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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. She established the capital at Heijō-kyō in 710, marking the beginning of the Nara period. 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'' ...
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Wadō (era)
was a after '' Keiun'' and before '' 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 in Musashi Province, what is now known as Wadō Archaeological Site. 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;Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 56. and the ''Wadō'' era is famous for the coin , which is recognized as the fi ...
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Iwanami Shoten Publishing
is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel '' Kokoro'', which appeared as a book in 1914 after being serialized in the ''Asahi Shimbun''. Iwanami has since become known for scholarly publications, editions of classical Japanese literature, dictionaries, and high-quality paperbacks. Since 1955, it has published the '' Kōjien'', a single-volume dictionary of Japanese that is widely considered to be authoritative. Iwanami's head office is at Hitotsubashi 2–5–5, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Company history Iwanami Shigeo founded the publishing firm Iwanami Shoten in the Kanda district of Tokyo in 1913. In its early years, the company published authors such as Natsume Sōseki, Kurata Hyakuzō and Abe Jiro. It also published academic and literary journals in the field of philosophy, i ...
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Tōkyō
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital and most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents . Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the world recognizes Tokyo as a city, since 1943 its governing structure has been more akin to that of a prefecture, with an accompanying Governor an ...
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Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan and the world. Shogakukan is headquartered in the Shogakukan Building in Hitotsubashi, part of Kanda, Chiyoda, Tokyo, near the Jimbocho book district. The corporation also has the other two companies located in the same ward. International operations In the United States Shogakukan, along with Shueisha, owns Viz Media, which publishes manga from both companies in the United States. Shogakukan's licensing arm in North America was ShoPro Entertainment; it was merged into Viz Media in 2005. Shogakukan's production arm is Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (previously Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd.) In March 2010 it was announced that Shogakuka ...
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Asuka Period
The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato period, Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the Asuka, Yamato, Asuka region, about south of the modern city of Nara, Nara, Nara. The Asuka period is characterized by its significant Japanese art, artistic, social, and political transformations, having their origins in the late Kofun period. The introduction of Buddhism marked a change in Japanese society. The Asuka period is also distinguished by the change in the name of the country from to . Naming The term "Asuka period" was first used to describe a period in the history of Japanese fine-arts and architecture. It was proposed by fine-arts scholars and Okakura Kakuzō around 1900. Sekino dated the Asuka period as ending with the Taika Reform of 646. Okakura, however, saw it as ending with the transfer of the capital to the Heijō ...
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7th-century History Books
The 7th century is the period from 601 through 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. The spread of Islam and the Muslim conquests began with the unification of Arabia by the Islamic prophet Muhammad starting in 622. After Muhammad's death in 632, Islam expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula under the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661) and the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750). The Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century led to the downfall of the Sasanian Empire. Also conquered during the 7th century were Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Egypt, and North Africa. The Byzantine Empire suffered setbacks during the rapid expansion of the Caliphate and a mass incursion of Slavs in the Balkans which reduced its territorial limits. The decisive victory at the Siege of Constantinople in the 670s led the empire to retain Asia Minor, which ensured the existence of the empire. In the Iberian Peninsula, the 7th century was known as the ''Siglo de Concilios'' (century o ...
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