The heart of Kojiki, Japanese oldest history book (1) 2013/3/7
Kojiki is composed of a preface and following 3 parts,
First part: mythological age
Middle part: from 1st Emperor to 15th Emperor
Last part: from 16th Emperor to 33rd Emperor .
The preface was written by Ohno Yasumaro who was a middle class civil officer in Nara era. According to the preface, Yasumaro was ordered by then Emperor Genmyou to write down true records of Japanese history which were oral traditions from ancient times.
Yasumaro completed the history book and presented it to Genmyou Emperor in Wado 5th (AD 712).
Unfortunately the book was not published for public but probably just for the people in and around the Emperor house, therefore there are no other written evidence than this preface to probe the exact year of publish, however most likely it was written in or around 712 judging by various circumstantial evidences.
The first part is the most important part of the book. There are many interesting and instructive stories and mythologies which explain how the Nation was built and developed. We can understand many Something Great played important roles respectively and contributed lots to build a young Nation.
Middle part is the record of Emperors of early stages.
This part explains the time of rule, achievement and place of capital on each Emperor.
Kojiki especially tells in detail on the first Emperor who built the ancient kingdom after many years struggle.
Regretfully there were no real time written evidences available for these period, namely from 2nd to 4th century, it is difficult to judge to what extent we can believe in Kojiki’s records.
However Kojiki tells us important flow and structure of early stages of the kingdom.
Many ruins, tumulus and other things excavated give us lots of hints and images.
Last part is the record of Emperors whose existences are almost certain.
This part is the records of the last stage of ancient kingdom. From the time of the next generation, they tried to reestablish and build more advanced and centralized Nation.
Let’s see attractive and important heart of Kojiki from next time onward.
