Nihongi, Vol. 1

by Ō no Yasumaro, William George Aston

Excerpt from Nihongi

But enough has been said of the defects of the The above strictures apply almost exclusively to the earlier half of the work, and they must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that it after all presents a very full and varied picture of the civilization, manners and customs. And political, moral, and religious ideas of the ancient Japanese. Even the large untrue element which it contains is not without its value. Bad history may be good mythology or folk-lore, and state ments the most wildly at variance with fact often throw a useful light on the beliefs or institutions of the age when they became current.

Genres: Japan, History, Mythology, Ancient History, Japanese Literature, Historical

880 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Yasumaro was a Japanese nobleman and chronicler of folklore and myth who is most remembered for his work on the Kojiki, and his likely work on the Nihon, both of which were early Japanese chronicles of folklore, mythology and the Japanese creation myth.

Reviews

[Cody]

Fascinating, yes, but the scholarship? Daaamn!®️

(I’m going for a thing)

[Makenzy Veldboom]

Similar to the Book of the Dead from ancient Egypt, if you don’t have a great understanding, which I didn’t, of ancient language and writing you’re going to be extremely lost. I’m very interested in the origins of Shintoism and expanding my knowledge on this topic, if you are the same this may not be the best place to start unless you have a book where it explains what you’re reading, otherwise you’ll be just as confused as I was. However this book is the origins of Shintoism and how the “Kami” came to be so I’m assuming it’s pretty essential for any scholar, just not me lol

[Greg Wright]

Not a great stirring read but he makes the right call regarding name translation compared to every version of the Kojiki I've ever read. Historomyth works well here, I think, better than in volume 2