Commentary on the Kojiki (Kojiki-den)

Introduction

Motoori Norinaga worked on this commentary from 1764 to 1798; its 44 volumes were printed between 1790 and 1822. It is the first thorough philological study of the Kojiki (712), Japan’s oldest chronicle, whose mixture of Chinese characters and Japanese elements Norinaga tried to read back into its original Japanese wording. He takes the myths of the gods as true and as the record of an ancient Japanese way that existed before Confucianism and Buddhism, obscured by the rationalising “Chinese mind” (karagokoro). The work became the foundation of the National Learning (kokugaku) movement and was later drawn on by nationalist ideology; it also laid the groundwork for modern Kojiki scholarship.

Connections

Builds on

• Distinguishing the Way (Bendō)1717 · Ogyū Sorai