num_pages: 655
description: The Kojiki, the earliest source book in Japanese literature and history, was completed in A.D. 712 under the auspices of the imperial court. It is the oldest extant book in Japanese and, as its title (literally, "Record of Ancient Things") suggests, an account of a still earlier era. It is the court's statement about the origins of the imperial clan and the leading families and the beginnings of Japan as a nation; and it is, at the same time, a compilation of myths, historical and pseudo-historical narratives and legends, songs, anecdotes, folk etymologies, and genealogies.This new translation relates the translated text to the achievement of modern scholarship, including all of the most recent commentaries by twentieth-century scholars. In addition to the detailed notes, there is an extensive glossary which identifies people, places, and things mentioned in the text.
language: English
title: Kojiki
titlecomplete: Kojiki
genres: Cultural, Religion, Asia, Japan, Nonfiction, Japanese Literature, Literature, Classics, Mythology, History
ratings_count: 947
publisher: University of Tokyo Press