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A birth hut thatched with cormorant feathers was built for her. 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. Amaterasu and Susanoo Amaterasu emerges out of the Heavenly Rock Cave Shunsai Toshimasa, 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. 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 the claims of noble families and to reorganize them into a new system of ranks and titles are also possible factors for its compilation. Structure[ edit ] The Kojiki contains various songs and poems. A good part of the latter portion of the text is spent recounting various genealogies which served not only to give 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. Out of the serpent's carcass, Susanoo finds the sword Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi 天叢雲剣, "Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds" , which he presents to Amaterasu as a reconciliatory gift. During the s 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 Kamitsumaki, also known as the Kamiyo no Maki 神代巻, "Volume of the Age of the Gods" , includes the preface of the Kojiki, and is focused on the deities of creation and the births of various deities of the kamiyo 神代 period, or Age of the Gods. The Kamitsumaki also outlines the myths concerning the foundation of Japan. The original Japanese is included in parentheses where appropriate. Toyotamahime tells Hoori not to look at her while she is giving birth; however, he breaks his promise and discovers her true form to be that of a wani. While the historical records and myths are written in a form of Chinese with a heavy mixture of Japanese elements, the songs are written with Chinese characters , though only used phonetically. Ugayafukiaezu eventually took his aunt Tamayoribime as his wife and had four children with her, one of whom was Kamu-Yamato-Iwarebiko-no-Mikoto 神倭伊波礼毘古命 , also known as the Emperor Jimmu. Hoori goes back to land on the back of a wani and returns the fish hook to Hoderi, now cursed to give bad luck to its user. Watatsumi gives Hoori two magical jewels: the Shiomitsutama 塩盈珠 "Tide-raising Jewel" and the Shiofurutama 塩乾珠 "Tide-ebbing Jewel" , telling him to use both to subdue his brother. 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. Such interactions are very prominent in the first and second volumes. Izanami pronounces a curse, vowing to kill a thousand people each day, to which Izanagi replies that he will then beget fifteen hundred people everyday to thwart her. As Ninigi was about to come down, an earthly deity named Sarutabiko-no-Kami 猿田毘古神 comes and offers to be his guide. 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. He was eventually slain by the same arrow he used to shoot a pheasant sent by the heavenly deities to question him. 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. the earthly land of Japan , to the land of Izumo , where he slays a monstrous eight-headed serpent called the Yamata-no-Orochi 八俣遠呂智 to rescue the earthly goddess Kushinadahime 櫛名田比売 , whom he married. This, the story explains, is why the emperors - Ninigi's descendants - are mortal. While divided into the Ise branch, it is actually a mixture of the two branches. The lost fish hook is finally discovered lodged in a sea bream 's throat. Many of the stories in this volume are mythological; the allegedly historical information is highly suspect. Izanagi loses his patience and lights his comb as a torch to gaze at his wife, only to find that Izanami is now a rotting corpse. The gods, led by the wise Omoikane-no-Kami 思金神 , eventually persuade her to come out of the cave, restoring light to the world. After staying in Watatsumi's realm for three years, Hoori expresses his wish to return to the surface. The second through ninth Emperors' reigns are recorded in a minimum of detail, with only their names, the names of their various descendants, and the locations of their palaces and tombs listed, with no mention of their achievements. 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. Hoori Yamasachihiko Hoori and Toyotamabime Hoderi and Hoori, also known as Umisachihiko 海幸彦 "Luck of the Sea" and Yamasachihiko 山幸彦 "Luck of the Mountain" , grew up to be a fisherman and a hunter, respectively. In , Sadayo copied volumes one and three but did not have access to the second volume. During Ame-no-Wakahiko's funeral, Shitateruhime's brother Ajishikitakahikone-no-Kami 阿遅志貴高日子根神 is enraged at being mistaken for the dead god whom he resembled in appearance and destroys the mourning house moya where the funeral was held. Hoori ended up losing his brother's fish hook in the sea; he tries to make compensation, but Hoderi, furious, insists on having the original hook. Hoori reigned in the palace at Takachiho for years before his death. By the Kamakura period — , the work languished in obscurity such that very few people had access to the text, particularly that of the middle second volume. The extant Urabe branch consists of 36 existing manuscripts all based on the copies by Urabe Kanenaga. To prove her fidelity, Sakuyabime confines herself inside a sealed birth hut and sets it ablaze as she was about to give birth. After meeting Mabuchi in , Norinaga began to devote his efforts to an in-depth scholarly study of the text. One time, the brothers agree to exchange places and try using the other's tools. While his conclusions led to considerable controversy, his influence remains in subsequent studies of 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. Ugayafukiaezu Toyotamabime arrives on the surface pregnant with Hoori's child, wishing to give birth on land. 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. Hoori goes to the sea in search of the fish hook and ends up in the palace of the sea god, Watatsumi-no-Kami 綿津見神 , where he is warmly welcomed, and marries Watatsumi's daughter, Toyotamabime 豊玉毘売. Toyotamabime entrusted her newborn son, whom she named Ugayafukiaezu-no-Mikoto 鵜葦草不合命 "Unfinished Cormorant-Feather Thatching" , to the care of his sister, Tamayoribime 玉依毘売命. Amaterasu decrees that Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto 天忍穂耳命 , one of the five sons born to her when Susanoo chewed her magatama beads, shall be the one sent down to take possession of the land. Under the name Yachihoko-no-Kami 八千矛神, "Eight Thousand Spears" , he takes a third wife, Nunakawahime 沼河比売 of Koshi. The earliest printed edition of the text was the Kan'ei Kojiki 寛永古事記 , published in Kyoto in Kan'ei Kokugaku scholars saw Japan's earliest writings as the repository of a uniquely superior Japanese identity that could be revived by recovering the ancient language they were written in; the Kojiki, by virtue of its antiquity, gained the status of a sacred text. Izanami dies while giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi-no-Kami 火神迦具土神 ; in a fit of rage, Izanagi kills the newborn Kagutsuchi and searches for his wife in Yomi 黄泉国 Yomi no kuni , the land of the dead. Within three years, Hoderi became poverty-stricken and attempted to attack Hoori, who then used the two jewels to defeat him.

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 ofand it itself was apparently lost soon after.

The heavenly deities then dispatch the god of thunder, Takemikazuchi-no-Kami 建御雷神who descends on the shores of Inasa 伊那佐之小浜 Inasa no ohama in Izumo.

Angry and ashamed at having her true form discovered, she returned to wild orient sea and never met him again. Whereas the Nihon Shoki uses a variety of source documents wild orient Chinese textsthe Kojiki is apparently based on sources handed wild orient within the court.

Amaterasu bequeaths to Ninigi three sacred treasures - the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi 草薙剣 wild orient another name for the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi given to her paypal accounts credit card Susanoo, wild orient mirror used by the other gods to lure her out of the Ama-no-Iwato, and magatama beads - and has a number of gods which included the five divine ancestors wild orient the priestly clans involved in the services of the wild orient family accompany him in his descent.

The Nakatsumaki 中巻or second volume[ edit ].

As punishment for his misdeeds, Susanoo is thrown out of Takamagahara. Horrified at this sight, Izanagi runs away and seals the entrance to Yomi. Takeminakata flees to the sea of Suwa in Shinano , where he finally surrenders. Kurano Kenji took it a step further, proposing that the Kojiki may best be compared with Western epic literature and regarded as a national epic like Beowulf is in the English-speaking world. The Kamitsumaki 上巻 , or first volume[ edit ] The Beginning of Heaven and Earth When heaven and earth came into existence, three gods collectively known as the Kotoamatsukami 別天津神, "Distinguished Heavenly Kami" appeared, who were then followed by seven generations of deities. A monumental volume study of the Kojiki called Kojiki-den 古事記伝, "Commentary on the Kojiki" , composed over a thirty-four year period , was the fruit of his labor. The Subjugation of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni The gods dwelling in Takagamahara decide that Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, which they consider to be overpopulated by unruly and evil kami, must be pacified and turned over to their rule. The couple, using a spear , churn the ocean, thus forming the island of Onogoro 淤能碁呂島. Information about the 24th to 33rd Emperors is scant. According to the preface, Emperor Tenmu reigned 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. She delivered three children in the midst of the fire: Hoderi-no-Mikoto 火照命 , Hosuseri-no-Mikoto 火須勢理命 , and Hoori-no-Mikoto 火遠理命. Synopsis[ edit ] What follows 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. Susanoo then makes his way down to Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni 葦原中国, the "Central Land of Reed Plains", i. Finally, in , he obtained access to the second volume through a Urabe-branch manuscript that he used to transcribe. Izanami reveals that she had already eaten the food of the underworld and thus cannot return to the land of the living; she will, however, try to ask for permission and bade Izanagi to wait. The Shimotsumaki covers the 16th to 33rd Emperors and, unlike previous volumes, has very limited references to interactions with deities. Five male kami Amaterasu's sons and three female kami Susanoo's daughters come into existence when 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. The seventh and final generation of kami, a male-female pair known as Izanagi-no-Mikoto 伊邪那岐命 and Izanami-no-Mikoto 伊邪那美命 , are ordered to solidify and shape the earth, which was then like floating oil on the primeval ocean. 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. Manuscripts[ edit ] There are two major branches of Kojiki manuscripts: Ise and Urabe. When the goddess produced foodstuffs from her mouth, nose, and rectum, a disgusted Susanoo kills her, at which various crops, plants and seeds spring from her dead body. When a suspicious Amaterasu went out to meet him clad in armor, Susanoo protested his innocence and proposed that they exchange oaths. He then relates how Emperor Tenmu commissioned Hieda no Are to memorize 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. Izanagi, feeling contaminated by his visit to Yomi, went to immerse himself in a river, bringing more gods into existence as he does so. Sakuyabime becomes pregnant after spending only one night with Ninigi, causing suspicion in Ninigi. Ninigi finally descends from heaven to the summit of Mount Takachiho in Himuka and sets up his dwelling there. The Birth of the Gods 神生み Kamiumi Making their home on the island, Izanagi and Izanami marry and beget the islands of Japan as well as numerous other kami. Ame-no-Oshihomimi, after observing the earth below, deems it to be too tumultuous and refuses to go. Finally, Hoderi submitted and swore fealty to Hoori. 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.