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53-834: His name is given in the Kojiki ( c.  712 AD ) both as Izanagi-no-Kami (伊邪那岐神) and Izanagi-no-Mikoto (伊邪那岐命), while the Nihon Shoki (720 AD) refers to him as Izanagi-no-Mikoto , with the name written in different characters (伊弉諾尊). The names Izanagi ( Izanaki ) and Izanami are often interpreted as being derived from the verb izanau ( historical orthography izanafu ) or iⁿzanap - from Western Old Japanese 'to invite', with -ki / -gi and -mi being taken as masculine and feminine suffixes, respectively. The literal translation of Iⁿzanaŋgî and Iⁿzanamî are 'Male-who-invites' and 'Female-who-invites'. Shiratori Kurakichi proposed an alternative theory which instead sees

106-598: A copy of the Kan'ei printed edition in 1754. After meeting Mabuchi in 1763, Norinaga began to devote his efforts to an in-depth scholarly study of the text. A monumental 44-volume study of the Kojiki called Kojiki-den ( 古事記伝 , "Commentary on the Kojiki ") , composed over a 34-year period (1764–1798), was the fruit of his labor. With Norinaga, the Kojiki assumed an importance equal to the Nihon Shoki ; in fact, in his view

159-565: A national epic like Beowulf is in the English-speaking world. During the 1920s and 30s, linguist Hashimoto Shinkichi studied the phonology of the Old Japanese language , and his conclusions were applied by scholars to the study of the text. The Kojiki continued to attract the attention of academics and other specialists in the post-war period, which saw the appearance of numerous editions, translations and commentaries on

212-481: A plain covered with awagi ) by the river-mouth of Tachibana in Himuka in [the island of] Tsukushi " and purified himself by bathing in the river; various deities came into existence as he stripped off his clothes and accouterments and immersed himself in the water. The three most important kami , the "Three Precious Children" (三貴子 mihashira no uzu no miko or sankishi ) – the sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami ,

265-451: A thick root system. The stems may be 3 centimetres (1.2 inches) in diameter. The leaves are each made up of three oval leaflets up to 5 centimetres (2.0 inches) long. The inflorescence is a raceme of up to 15 open pealike flowers, which are pink and purple in color. There are also cleistogamous flowers which self-pollinate and do not open. The fruit is a flat legume pod nearly a centimeter long which contains one seed. This species

318-411: A third wife, Nunakawahime ( 沼河比売 ) of Koshi . A tiny god riding on the waves of the sea in a bean-pod appears before Ōkuninushi. A god in the form of a scarecrow named Kuebiko ( 久延毘古 ) identifies the dwarf as Sukunabikona-no-Kami ( 少名毘古那神 ), a son of Kamimusubi-no-Kami ( 神産巣日神 ), one of the three primordial Kotoamatsukami . Sukunabikona assists Ōkuninushi in his task of creating and developing

371-465: Is a condensed summary of the contents of the text, including many of the names of gods, emperors, and locations as well as events which took place in association with them. The original Japanese is included in parentheses where appropriate. Ō no Yasumaro 's preface, in the form of a dedicatory address to Empress Genmei , begins with a poem summarizing the main contents of the work. He then relates how Emperor Tenmu commissioned Hieda no Are to memorize

424-537: 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 kami ( 神 ) , 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

477-443: Is quite variable in appearance, and it has been bred into a number of cultivars . In general, this plant is an erect shrub growing to 3 metres (9.8 feet) in height and width, generally remaining smaller in cold climates. It can grow from ground level to 5 feet (1.5 metres) in one growing season. The cultivars "Little Buddy" and "Yakushima" grow to 3 feet (0.91 metres) and 1.5 feet (0.46 metres), resp. Lespedeza bicolor grows from

530-489: Is the oldest existing manuscript. While divided into the Ise branch, it is actually a mixture of the two branches. The monk Ken'yu based his copy on Ōnakatomi Sadayo's copy. In 1266, Sadayo copied volumes one and three but did not have access to the second volume. Finally, in 1282, he obtained access to the second volume through a Urabe-branch manuscript that he used to transcribe. The Kojiki contains various songs and poems. While

583-533: The Gōtō Kojiki ( 鼇頭古事記 , " Kojiki with Marginal Notes") was printed by Deguchi (Watarai) Nobuyoshi , a priest at Ise Shrine , in 1687 ( Jōkyō 4). The birth of nativist studies ( kokugaku ) and nationalist sentiment during the Edo period saw a reappraisal of the Kojiki . Kokugaku scholars saw Japan's earliest writings as the repository of a uniquely superior Japanese identity that could be revived by recovering

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636-454: The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki achieved a sort of scriptural status under State Shintō , which viewed the stories contained therein as orthodox national history. Official ideology upheld as unquestionable fact the belief in the emperor's divinity and the idea of Japan as a racially superior "national body" ( kokutai ), with scholars who questioned their veracity facing the threat of censorship, forced resignation, or even trial in court. Until

689-599: The Kojiki is apparently based on sources handed down within the court. Whereas the Nihon Shoki , owing to its status as one of the six imperial histories, was widely read and studied during the Heian period (794–1185), the Kojiki was mostly treated as an ancillary text. Indeed, a work known as the Sendai Kuji Hongi (also known as the Kujiki ), claimed to have been authored by Prince Shōtoku and Soga no Umako,

742-628: The Kojiki was a more trustworthy source for ancient Japanese traditions than was the Shoki precisely because it was free of "Chinese mentality". He viewed the Kojiki as a true account of actual events that when read correctly, could reveal Japan in its pristine, ideal state as a community where the kami , the emperor and the people lived in harmony. Norinaga's work was carried on in different directions by his disciple Hirata Atsutane and his rivals Fujitani Mitsue (1781–1849) and Tachibana Moribe (1768–1823), who each produced commentaries and treatises on

795-617: The Meiji era , the text's sacred nature was not known to have been questioned. However, the Kojiki was still widely seen as inferior to the Nihon Shoki until Motoori Norinaga wrote the Kojiki-den . In 1913, Tsuda Sōkichi argued in a study that the Kojiki , particularly in its earlier sections, was neither history nor myth but a document created to legitimize the rule of the imperial line. While his conclusions led to considerable controversy, his influence remains in subsequent studies of

848-416: The Shoki instead describes them as the offspring of Aokashikine-no-Mikoto (青橿城根尊), another name for the goddess Ayakashikone-no-Mikoto, of the sixth of the first seven generations of gods. Another variant meanwhile portrays Izanagi as the offspring of a deity named Awanagi-no-Mikoto (沫蕩尊) and the fifth-generation descendant of the primordial deity Kuninotokotachi-no-Mikoto. In the Shoki 's main narrative,

901-408: The legume family known by the common names shrubby bushclover , shrub lespedeza , and bicolor lespedeza . It is native to eastern Asia, ranging from southeastern Siberia to eastern China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. and it is widely grown as an ornamental plant . In some regions, such as the southeastern United States, it grows in the wild as an introduced and invasive species . This plant

954-524: The seventh and final generation of deities that manifested after the emergence of the first group of gods, the Kotoamatsukami , when heaven and Earth came into existence. Receiving a command from the other gods to solidify and shape the Earth (which then "[resembled] floating oil and [drifted] like a jellyfish"), the couple use a jewelled spear to churn the watery chaos. The brine that dripped from

1007-706: The "Record of the Emperors", the Kokki ( 国記 , also Kunitsufumi ) or the "National Record", and other "fundamental records" ( 本記 , hongi or mototsufumi ) pertaining to influential clans and free subjects. Out of these texts, only the Kokki survived the burning of Soga no Emishi 's estate (where these documents were kept) during the Isshi incident of 645, and was itself apparently lost soon after. The Kojiki 's preface indicates that leading families also kept their own historical and genealogical records; indeed, one of

1060-442: The "hags of Yomi" (予母都志許売 Yomotsu-shikome ), and a horde of warriors to chase after him. To distract them, Izanagi threw the vine securing his hair and the comb on his right hair-knot, which turned into grapes and bamboo shoots that the hags devoured. Upon reaching the pass of Yomotsu Hirasaka (黄泉比良坂, the 'Flat Slope of Yomi'), Izanagi took three peaches from a nearby tree and repelled his pursuers using them. He then declared

1113-407: The ancient language they were written in; the Kojiki , by virtue of its antiquity, gained the status of a sacred text. The Kojiki came to be highly regarded that scholars such as Kada no Azumamaro and Kamo no Mabuchi – himself a student of Azumamaro – produced annotated versions of it. The Kojiki received its most serious study and exposition in the hands of Motoori Norinaga , who obtained

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1166-498: The claims of noble families and to reorganize them into a new system of ranks and titles are also possible factors for its compilation. The Kojiki 's narrative establishes the Yamato line 's right to rule via myth and legend, portraying it as the progeny of heavenly deities and the rightful heir to the land of Japan. A good part of the latter portion of the text is spent recounting various genealogies which served not only to give

1219-662: The couple first begets the following eight islands after performing the marriage ceremony (in the following order): Both Ōshima and Kibi-no-Kojima are not reckoned among the eight great islands in the Kojiki , instead being identified as being born after them. The other remaining islands, such as Tsushima (対馬島) and Iki (壱岐島), are said to have been produced by the coagulation of the foam in sea water (or freshwater). Kojiki The Kojiki ( 古事記 , "Records of Ancient Matters" or "An Account of Ancient Matters") , also sometimes read as Furukotofumi or Furukotobumi ,

1272-442: The first of six histories commissioned by the imperial court, which was modeled on Chinese dynastic histories and was intended to be a national chronicle that could be shown with pride to foreign envoys, the Kojiki is inward looking, concerned mainly with the ruling family and prominent clans, and is apparently intended for internal consumption. Whereas the Nihon Shoki uses a variety of source documents (including Chinese texts),

1325-465: The genealogies and records of the imperial house years earlier, and how Genmei in turn ordered Yasumaro to compile a written record of what Are had learned. He finally concludes the preface with a brief explanation of the Chinese characters used to transcribe native Japanese words in the text and the division of the work into three volumes. Izanagi divides the world among his three children: Amaterasu

1378-641: The historical records and myths are written in a form of the Chinese language , the songs are written in Old Japanese with the Man'yōgana writing system, which uses Chinese characters only phonetically. The Kojiki is divided into three parts: the Kamitsumaki ( 上巻 , "upper volume" ) , the Nakatsumaki ( 中巻 , "middle volume") and the Shimotsumaki ( 下巻 , "lower volume") . What follows

1431-484: 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 the auspices of Prince Shotoku and Soga no Umako . According to the Nihon Shoki , the documents compiled under their initiative were the Tennōki ( 天皇記 , also Sumera-mikoto no fumi ) or

1484-413: The imperial family an air of antiquity (which may not necessarily reflect historical reality), but also served to tie, whether true or not, many existing clans' genealogies to their own. Regardless of the work's original intent, it finalized and possibly even formulated the framework by which Japanese history was examined in terms of the reign of emperors. In contrast to the Nihon Shoki (compiled 720),

1537-426: The jealousy of his brothers, who begin to make repeated attempts on his life. Seeking refuge in a subterranean realm ruled by Susanoo called Ne-no-Katasukuni ( 根之堅洲国 ), Ōnamuji meets and falls in love with Susanoo's daughter Suseribime-no-Mikoto ( 須勢理毘売 ). Upon learning of their affair, Susanoo imposes four trials on Ōnamuji, each of which he overcame with Suseribime's help. Ōnamuji manages to outwit Susanoo and leave

1590-548: The land ( kuni-zukuri ), but eventually crosses over to the "eternal land" ( 常世国 , tokoyo no kuni ), leaving Ōkuninushi without a partner. Another deity, Ōmononushi-no-Kami ( 大物主神 ), then appears and promises to aid Ōkuninushi if he will worship him. Ōkuninushi then enshrines Ōmononushi in Mount Mimoro in Yamato Province . Lespedeza bicolor Lespedeza bicolor is a species of flowering plant in

1643-482: The land of the dead, in the hopes of retrieving her. Izanami reveals that she had already partaken of food cooked in the furnace of the underworld, rendering her return impossible. Izanagi, losing his patience, betrayed his promise not to look at her and lit up a fire, only to find that Izanami is now a rotting corpse. To avenge her shame, Izanami dispatched the gods of thunder (known as the Yakusanoikazuchi ),

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1696-449: The man, should have been the first to speak. True enough, the first offspring that resulted from their union, the 'leech-child' Hiruko , was considered imperfect and set adrift on a boat of reeds . Izanagi and Izanami then also begat the island of Awa (淡島 Awashima ), but this too was not counted among their rightful progeny. Izanagi and Izanami then decided to repeat the ritual, with Izanagi greeting Izanami first. This time, their union

1749-530: The middle (second) volume. It is due to this neglect that the Kojiki is available only in comparatively late manuscripts, the earliest of which dates to the late 14th century. It was with the advent of printing in the early modern period that the Kojiki first reached a wide audience. The earliest printed edition of the text was the Kan'ei Kojiki ( 寛永古事記 ), published in Kyoto in 1644 ( Kan'ei 21). A second edition,

1802-486: The moon deity Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto , and the storm god Susanoo-no-Mikoto – were born when Izanagi washed his left eye, his right eye, and his nose, respectively. Izanagi divides the world among his three children: Amaterasu was allotted Takamagahara (高天原, the "Plain of High Heaven"), Tsukuyomi the night, and Susanoo the seas. Susanoo did not perform his appointed task and instead kept crying and howling "until his beard eight hands long extended down over his chest," causing

1855-541: The mountains to wither and the rivers to dry up. After he told his father that he wished to go to his mother's land, Ne-no-Katasu-Kuni (根堅州国, the 'Land of Roots'), a furious Izanagi expelled Susanoo "with a divine expulsion," after which he disappears from the narrative. While the first generations of kami including Izanagi and Izanami are implied in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki 's main narrative to have manifested independent of each other, one variant cited in

1908-514: The oldest extant literary work in Japan . The myths contained in the Kojiki as well as the Nihon Shoki ( 日本書紀 ) are part of the inspiration behind many practices and unified "Shinto orthodoxy". Later, they were incorporated into Shinto practices such as the misogi purification ritual. It is believed that the compilation of various genealogical and anecdotal histories of

1961-480: The peach fruit to be divine and bade it to grow in the land of the living to help people in need. When Izanami herself came in pursuit of him, Izanagi sealed the entrance to Yomi using a huge boulder. Izanami then pronounced a curse, vowing to kill a thousand people each day, to which Izanagi replies that he would then beget a thousand and five hundred people everyday to thwart her. Izanagi, feeling contaminated by his visit to Yomi, went to "[the plain of] Awagihara (i.e.

2014-751: The plant's drought tolerance and seed production. It can grow in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas. By the 1990s the plant had escaped cultivation and taken hold in many regions of the eastern United States, especially those in the Southeast . In the US, it is now present from New York to northern Florida and as far west as Nebraska and Texas . It can be found as far north as Ontario in Canada. In some areas this plant can form dense stands, becoming an aggressive invader. It has been considered threatening in areas where it has disturbed or prevented

2067-458: The realm, taking his new wife Suseribime as well as Susanoo's sword, koto , and bow and arrows back with him, but not before being advised by Susanoo to change his name to Ōkuninushi-no-Kami ( 大国主神 , "Master of the Great Land"). Ōkuninushi defeats his wicked brothers and becomes the lord of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni. Under the name Yachihoko-no-Kami ( 八千矛神 , "Eight Thousand Spears"), he takes

2120-465: The reasons it gives for the compilation of the Kojiki is the correction of errors that had supposedly crept into these documents. According to the preface, Emperor Tenmu (reigned 673–686) ordered the review and emendation of clan documents and commissioned a certain court attendant ( toneri ) of exceptional memory named Hieda no Are to memorize records and oral traditions concerning the imperial lineage. Beyond this memorization, nothing occurred until

2173-412: The reign of Empress Genmei (reigned 707–715), who on the 18th of the 9th month of 711 ( Wadō 4) ordered the courtier Ō no Yasumaro to record what had been learned by Hieda no Are. He finished and presented his work to Empress Genmei on the 28th of the 1st month of 712 (Wadō 5). The Kojiki is a collation of different traditions woven into a single "official" mythology, made in an attempt to justify

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2226-522: The root iza- (or rather isa- ) to be derived from isao (historical orthography: isawo ) meaning 'achievement' or 'merit'. The etymological origin of the verb is suggested to be a precursor to the Middle Korean lemma yènc - meaning 'to place/put on [the top of]' reconstructed as *yenc-a (place- INF ) in Old Korean . The Kojiki portrays Izanagi and his younger twin sister Izanami as

2279-399: The rule of the imperial Yamato polity and at the same time to subsume different interest groups under its wing by giving them a place and an interest in the national genealogy-mythology. Apart from furthering the imperial agenda, an increased interest in the nation's origins in reaction to the influx of foreign culture and the need for an authoritative genealogical account by which to consider

2332-498: The text (particularly in post- World War II scholarship), which amounts largely to development and correction of the line of thought originally proposed by him. In reaction to Tsuda, Watsuji Tetsurō (1920) argued for a literary appreciation of the Kojiki, claiming that this gave it inner coherence. Kurano Kenji (1927) took it a step further, proposing that the Kojiki may best be compared with Western epic literature and regarded as

2385-606: The text by authors such as Kurano Kenji, Takeda Yūkichi , Saigō Nobutsuna , and Kōnoshi Takamitsu . There are two major branches of Kojiki manuscripts: Ise and Urabe. The extant Urabe branch consists of 36 existing manuscripts all based on the 1522 copies by Urabe Kanenaga. The Ise branch may be subdivided into the Shinpukuji-bon ( 真福寺本 ) manuscript of 1371–1372 and the Dōka-bon ( 道果本 ) manuscripts. The Dōka sub-branch consists of: The Shinpukuji-bon manuscript (1371–1372)

2438-417: The text. The Kojiki became once more the object of scholarly focus and discussion in the Meiji period with the introduction of Western academic disciplines such as philology and comparative mythology . The importance of the text as a work of literary value was recognized, and scholars realized that its accounts were comparable in many ways to ancient Greek and Roman myths . At the same time, however,

2491-490: The tip of the spear congealed and turned into an island named Onogoro (淤能碁呂島). The two descended to the island and, setting up their dwelling, erected a 'heavenly pillar' ( ama no mihashira ) on it. Izanagi and Izanami, realizing that they were meant to procreate and have children, then devised a marriage ceremony whereby they would walk in opposite directions around the pillar, greet each other and initiate intercourse. After Izanami greeted Izanagi first, Izanagi objected that he,

2544-498: The two gods each chewed and spat out an object carried by the other (Amaterasu Susanoo's sword, Susanoo Amaterasu's magatama beads) during the rite of oath-taking. Susanoo, declaring himself the winner of the contest, "raged with victory" and proceeds to wreak havoc upon Takamagahara, causing Amaterasu to hide in the Ama-no-Iwato ( 天岩戸 , the "Heavenly Rock Cave"), plunging heaven and earth into total darkness. The gods, led by

2597-451: The wise Omoikane-no-Kami ( 思金神 ), eventually persuade her to come out of the cave, restoring light to the world. As punishment for his misdeeds, Susanoo is thrown out of Takamagahara. A descendant of Susanoo, Ōnamuji-no-Kami ( 大穴牟遅神 ), helps a hapless hare that had been mistreated by his eighty brothers ( 八十神 , yasogami ); the hare, in turn, helps Ōnamuji win the hand of the goddess Yagamihime ( 八上比売 ) of Inaba . This earns Ōnamuji

2650-694: Was a success, with Izanami giving birth to some of the various islands that comprise the Japanese archipelago (with the notable exceptions of Shikoku and Hokkaido), which include the following eight islands (in the following order): The two then proceeded to beget the various deities who are to inhabit these lands. Izanami, however, was badly injured and eventually died after giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi . In an act of grief and rage, Izanagi killed Kagutsuchi with his ' ten-grasp sword '. More gods manifest into existence out of Izanami's excreta, Kagutsuchi's blood and mutilated remains, and Izanagi's tears. Izanagi, wishing to see Izanami again, went down to Yomi ,

2703-559: Was allotted Takamagahara ( 高天原 , the "Plain of High Heaven"), Tsukuyomi the night, and Susanoo the seas. Susanoo, who missed his mother and kept weeping and howling incessantly, rejects his appointed task, leading Izanagi to expel him. Susanoo then goes up to Takamagahara, claiming to wish to see his sister. When a suspicious Amaterasu went out to meet him clad in armor, Susanoo protested his innocence and proposed that they exchange oaths . Five male kami (Amaterasu's sons) and three female kami (Susanoo's daughters) come into existence when

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2756-529: Was considered to be earlier and more reliable than the Kojiki . (Modern scholarly consensus holds the Kuji Hongi to be a Heian period forgery based on both the Kojiki and the Shoki , although certain portions may indeed preserve genuine early traditions and sources.) By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the work languished in obscurity such that very few people had access to the text, particularly that of

2809-560: Was first introduced to the United States as an ornamental shrub in 1856, and it was likely introduced several times after that. In the 1930s it was recommended for use as erosion control and in the revegetation of abandoned mine sites. It was used to enhance wildlife habitat, particularly for the northern bobwhite . The United States Department of Agriculture produced and distributed the seed and many millions were planted. A number of strains and cultivars were developed to improve

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