The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East/Volume 13/Book 2

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The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: Volume XIII, Japan (1917)

II.—The Nihongi, or “Chronicles of Japan”

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4270307The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: Volume XIII, Japan — II.—The Nihongi, or “Chronicles of Japan”1917

ANCIENT JAPAN

(A.D. 600-1160)

THE NIHONGI

OR

CHRONICLES OF JAPAN

TRANSLATED BY W. G. ASTON

“In all their fulness
How should we know
The days of old;
Did the august Yamato writing (the Nihongi)
Not exist in the world?”

— JAPANESE POEM BY MOTOÖRI.

“On him who breaks this oath, Heaven will send a curse, and earth a plague; demons will slay them, and men will smite them. This is as manifest as the sun and moon.”

— LAWS OF KOTOKU.

THE NIHONGI

(INTRODUCTION)

THE "Nihongi," as previously explained, is only more recent by a few years (A.D. 720) than the "Kojiki," yet the "Nihongi" is of an entirely different spirit. Perhaps when the fierce legends of the "Kojiki" stood actually in writing before the eyes of the Mikado's court, the nobles were shocked by the coarseness of the whole. At any rate the compilation of the "Nihongi" was immediately authorized, and it was completed only eight years after the earlier record. It immediately superseded the "Kojiki" in court favor and was read regularly in the Mikado's presence to the assembled nobles. No doubt in an earlier age the trained reciters had chanted the same legends, and this was but a continuation of the old custom in a more polished Chinese fashion.

The "Nihongi" offers us the not wholly unexpected surprise of a Japanese work composed entirely in Chinese. Perhaps, therefore, we should really call it a Chinese work. Not only is its language that of China, but its spirit is impregnated with Chinese philosophy and Chinese courtesy. In brief, it reads like the work of a Chinese scholar who, in the service of what he would have regarded as the barbaric Japanese court, rewrites the tales of these barbarians to flatter them, and hence transforms their past into an impossible vision of Chinese elegance and Confucian propriety. He makes that old barbaric god-king Jimmu deliver ornate Chinese addresses while his successors quote from Confucian authors of whom they had never heard.

Underneath this fantastic outer garb the "Nihongi" presents much history of Japan's past. Especially is this true when the narrative approaches the times of the first Chinese teaching and the coming of Buddhism. Perhaps its most valuable section is that here included, of the Laws of Kotoku. This is the earliest Japanese legislation known to us, and is very typical of the steps by which a patriarchal government develops when it has grown beyond the family stage and become an absolute monarchy. Indeed, all the later portions of the "Nihongi" offer a most valuable picture of a nation just emerging from barbarism. We can watch them bursting from the ancient chrysalis, sloughing off one by one their childish superstitions and their empty customs, sometimes shrewdly welcoming a novelty, often blindly preserving what had long outworn its usefulness.

THE NIHONGI

THE AGE OF THE GODS

Book 1

Of old, Heaven and Earth were not yet separated, and the In and Yo^[1] not yet divided. They formed a chaotic mass like an egg which was of obscurely defined limits and contained germs.

The purer and clearer part was thinly drawn out, and formed Heaven, while the heavier and grosser element settled down and became Earth.

The finer element easily became a united body, but the consolidation of the heavy and gross element was accomplished with difficulty.

Heaven was therefore formed first, and Earth was established subsequently.

Thereafter divine beings were produced between them. ^[2]

Hence^[3]it is said that when the world began to be created, the soil of which lands were composed floated about in a manner which might be compared to the floating of a fish sporting on the surface of the water.

At this time a certain thing was produced between Heaven and Earth. It was in form like a reed-shoot. Now this became transformed into a God, and was called Kuni-tokotachi no Mikoto.^[4]

Next there was Kuni no sa-tsuchi no Mikoto,^[5] and next Toyo-kumu-nu no Mikoto^[6], in all three deities. ^[7]

These were pure males spontaneously developed by the operation of the principle of Heaven.^[8]

↑ The Yin and Yang, or female and male principles of Chinese philosophy.
↑ These opening sentences of the "Nihongi" have been justly condemned by modern Shinto scholars such as Motowori and Hirata as an essay of the Chinese rationalistic type, which has been awkwardly prefixed to the genuine Japanese traditions.
↑ Motowori points out that "Hence" has no meaning here. It is inserted clumsily to make it appear as if there were some connection between the Chinese essay which precedes and the Japanese tradition which follows. The author is fond of this word and frequently brings it in without much meaning.
↑ Land-eternal-stand-of-august-thing.
↑ Land-of-right-soil-of-augustness, i.e., his augustness the true soil of the land.
↑ Rich-form-plain-of-augustness. The meaning of many of the names of the gods is obscure, and these renderings must be accepted with caution. Compare the notes to Chamberlain's "Kojiki," where much attention has been given to this subject. It may be remarked that there is great and inextricable confusion as to the early deities between the various ancient authorities.
↑ The word Kami, "deity," has a very wide application in Japanese. It means primarily "upper," and hence nobles, the sovereign, gods, and generally any wonderful or mysterious thing. The leopard and wolf are Kami, the peach with which Izanagi put to flight the thunders which pursued him in the land of Yomi, etc.
↑ The principle of Heaven is the same thing as the Yō or male principle of Chinese philosophy. This again is no part of the old tradition.
↑ These quotations are usually referred to as part of the "Nihongi." They were, in my opinion, added at a somewhat (but not much) later date. They afford some indication of the mass of written literature which existed on this subject.
↑ In Japanese sora, to be distinguished from ame or ama, the heaven or firmament, which was regarded as a plain, as in the expression Takama no hara, "the plain of high heaven."
↑ Soko means "bottom."
↑ Tachi means "stand."
↑ Rich-country-master.
↑ Rich-form-moor.
↑ Rich-perfume-joint-plain.
↑ Float-pass-plain-rich-buy.
↑ Rich-land-plain.

[1] The Yin and Yang, or female and male principles of Chinese philosophy.

[2] These opening sentences of the "Nihongi" have been justly condemned by modern Shinto scholars such as Motowori and Hirata as an essay of the Chinese rationalistic type, which has been awkwardly prefixed to the genuine Japanese traditions.

[3] Motowori points out that "Hence" has no meaning here. It is inserted clumsily to make it appear as if there were some connection between the Chinese essay which precedes and the Japanese tradition which follows. The author is fond of this word and frequently brings it in without much meaning.

[4] Land-eternal-stand-of-august-thing.

[5] Land-of-right-soil-of-augustness, i.e., his augustness the true soil of the land.

[6] Rich-form-plain-of-augustness. The meaning of many of the names of the gods is obscure, and these renderings must be accepted with caution. Compare the notes to Chamberlain's "Kojiki," where much attention has been given to this subject. It may be remarked that there is great and inextricable confusion as to the early deities between the various ancient authorities.

[7] The word Kami, "deity," has a very wide application in Japanese. It means primarily "upper," and hence nobles, the sovereign, gods, and generally any wonderful or mysterious thing. The leopard and wolf are Kami, the peach with which Izanagi put to flight the thunders which pursued him in the land of Yomi, etc.

[8] The principle of Heaven is the same thing as the Yō or male principle of Chinese philosophy. This again is no part of the old tradition.

[9] These quotations are usually referred to as part of the "Nihongi." They were, in my opinion, added at a somewhat (but not much) later date. They afford some indication of the mass of written literature which existed on this subject.

[10] In Japanese sora, to be distinguished from ame or ama, the heaven or firmament, which was regarded as a plain, as in the expression Takama no hara, "the plain of high heaven."

[11] Soko means "bottom."

[12] Tachi means "stand."

[13] Rich-country-master.

[14] Rich-form-moor.

[15] Rich-perfume-joint-plain.

[16] Float-pass-plain-rich-buy.

[17] Rich-land-plain.

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