Kojiki-den

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The Kojiki-den (古事記伝) is a 44-volume commentary on the Kojiki written by the kokugaku scholar Motoori Norinaga.

Overview[edit]

The Kojiki-den is a commentary on the Kojiki, an eighth-century work of Shinto historiography and mythology,[1] by the Edo period kokugaku scholar Motoori Norinaga.[1]

Background[edit]

Motoori Norinaga was attracted to Shinto, as well as waka and monogatari, from a young age.[1] While studying in Kyoto in the seventh month of the sixth year of Hōreki (1756),[1] he purchased a copy of the Kan'ei edition of the Kojiki,[2] so it is thought that he read the work shortly after this point.[3] His early writings following this date, such as the 1758 Aware Ben (安波礼弁) and Ashiwake Obune (排蘆小船) were more focused on the Nihon Shoki.[3] In the 1761 Ame Tsuchi no Ben (阿毎菟知弁), he had moved toward placing more value on linguistic scholarship and attacked the Nihon Shoki's Chinese for being a barrier to research into the ancient Japanese language.[3]

Publication[edit]

The Kojiki-den was completed in Kansei 10 (1798).[1] It is in 44 books, first published in 44 volumes.[1] The first five books were first printed in 1790,[1] with books 6 through 11 following in 1792.[1] Books 12 through 17 were printed in 1797.[1] The rest of the work was not published until Bunsei 5 (1822), after Norinaga's death.[1] The first editions were printed in Nagoya by Eirakuya Tōshirō (永楽屋東四郎) and others.[1]

Textual tradition[edit]

According to the 1983 Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten's article on the Kojiki-den, written by Tadashi Ōkubo [ja] (1919–1980), Norinaga's original manuscripts for books 17, 18, 19, and 21 through 44 (27 books, 22 volumes), and secondary manuscripts for all 44 books (except for book 3, which is represented by a tertiary manuscript), are in the holdings of the Museum of Motoori Norinaga (本居宣長記念館 Motoori Norinaga Kinenkan).[4] The secondary manuscript for book 3 is in the holdings of the Tenri Central Library.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ōkubo 1983, p. 603.
  2. ^ Ōkubo 1983, pp. 603–604.
  3. ^ a b c Ōkubo 1983, p. 604.
  4. ^ a b Ōkubo 1983, p. 605.

Works cited[edit]

  • Ōkubo, Tadashi (1983). "Kojiki-den". Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典 (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. pp. 603–605. OCLC 11917421.
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