Of old, Heaven and Earth were not yet separated, and the In and Yō[3] not yet divided. They formed a chaotic mass like an
- ↑ Nihon, otherwise Nippon, the Niphon of our older maps, where it is wrongly limited to the main island of Japan. Japan is merely a Chinese pronunciation of this word, modified in the mouths of Europeans. Nihon, in Chinese 日本 means sun-origin, i.e. sunrise. The country received this name from its position to the east of the Asiatic continent. China being the Great Central Land, other countries were given names with reference to it. Corea, for example, is the Tong-Kuk or East-Country. These Chinese characters are sometimes used to represent Yamato, the true old Japanese name of the country, as in the name of the first Emperor, Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko-hoho-demi, better known as Jimmu Tennō. I have little doubt that Nihon, as a name for Japan, was first used by the Corean scholars who came over in numbers during the early part of the seventh century. Perhaps the earliest genuine use of this term occurs in the lament for the death of Shōtoku Daishi by a Corean Buddhist priest in A.D. 620.
In 670 it was formally notified to one of the Corean kingdoms that this would be the name of the country in future, and from about the same time the Chinese also began to use it officially.
There are several cases of its being used retrospectively in places where it has no business, as in a supposed letter from the King of Koryö to the Emperor of Japan quoted in the "Nihongi" under 297 A.D.
"Nihongi," or the Chronicles of Japan, is the proper and original name of this work. But later editors and writers have introduced the syllable sho, writing, styling it the Nihon-shoki, which is its most usual literary designation at the present time. It is also spoken of as the "Shoki."
- ↑ The first two books of the "Nihongi" contain the myths which form the basis of the Shinto religion. For the further study of this subject, Chamberlain's admirably faithful translation of the Kojiki, and Satow's contributions to the "J.A.S.T." will be found indispensable. Griffis's "Religions of Japan" may also be consulted with advantage.
- ↑ The Yin and Yang, or female and male principles of Chinese philosophy. See "Mayer's Chinese Manual," p. 293.
