Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697

by Ō no Yasumaro (Editor)

The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀?), sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. The book is also called the Nihongi (日本紀 lit. Japanese Chronicles?). It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical record of ancient Japan. The Nihon Shoki was finished in 720 under the editorial supervision of Prince Toneri and with the assistance of Ō no Yasumaro.[1]
The Nihon Shoki begins with the Japanese creation myth, explaining the origin of the world and the first seven generations of divine beings (starting with Kunitokotachi), and goes on with a number of myths as does the Kojiki, but continues its account through to events of the 8th century. It is believed to record accurately the latter reigns of Emperor Tenji, Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō. The Nihon Shoki focuses on the merits of the virtuous rulers as well as the errors of the bad rulers. It describes episodes from mythological eras and diplomatic contacts with other countries. The Nihon Shoki was written in classical Chinese, as was common for official documents at that time. The Kojiki, on the other hand, is written in a combination of Chinese and phonetic transcription of Japanese (primarily for names and songs). The Nihon Shoki also contains numerous transliteration notes telling the reader how words were pronounced in Japanese. Collectively, the stories in this book and the Kojiki are referred to as the Kiki stories.[2]
The tale of Urashima Tarō is developed from the brief mention in Nihon Shoki (Emperor Yuryaku Year 22) that a certain child of Urashima visited Horaisan and saw wonders. The later tale has plainly incorporated elements from the famous anecdote of "Luck of the Sea and Luck of the Mountains" (Hoderi and Hoori) found in Nihon Shoki. The later developed Urashima tale contains the Rip van Winkle motif, so some may consider it an early example of fictional time travel.

Genres: Japan, History, Classics, Japanese Literature, Mythology, Religion, Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 720

About the author

Yasumaro was a Japanese nobleman and chronicler of folklore and myth who is most remembered for his work on the Kojiki, and his likely work on the Nihon, both of which were early Japanese chronicles of folklore, mythology and the Japanese creation myth.

Reviews

[Lee]

Things I have learned, so far:
1.) Reading this goes a lot faster if you skip the footnotes.
2.) A lot of this material is already in the Kojiki. Seriously, I've read the Kojiki and I don't think I would have missed very much by not reading this.
3.) This translation is so old that the dirty bits (totally innocuous by today's standards, btw) are in Latin. Thankfully, I know Latin. :D

[Myridian]

Wow. This was almost unreadable. Part of me feels obligated to give it a higher star rating just because the preservation of the earliest known Japanese history is worthy regardless of whether it's enjoyable to read. But I just couldn't. Perhaps this is an expression pf my Western bias, but I was expecting something akin to a coherent narrative. Instead what I got was the fact that gods sprang out of everything initially, and then a listing of the heritages of every emperor. There were sketched out lists of facts of this individual traveling somewhere, the people they conquered and exacted tribute from, and attempts at rebellion, all quickly put down. I was able to glean a little of what was valued by the monarchy but not in any way that made it worth continuing the torture of this 800+ pg monster. Again, I'm glad it exists. But I'm also not enough of a historian to want to read it.

[Sarah]

This was absolutely astounding. Much like The Kojiki but it was more detailed. It also dealt more with the Emperors and their line after about the first 100 pages. I learned a lot reading this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Japanese culture.

[Celio]

Very dense.

[Sandra Yokota]

Fiquei muito entristecida que as crônicas são extremamente machistas, desvalorizam a mulher e a potência de ação dela. Dá para entender da onde vem a cultura japonesa, subalternando sua posição em relação aos homens.

[Cristiana Passos]

Eu gostei das crônicas no começo do livro, porém os últimos capítulos estão todos em japonês, acredito que seja uma versão original dos textos traduzidos nos primeiros capítulos, mas não tenho a total certeza

[Paolla Monticelli]

A pluralidade de deuses é bem interessante. Mas, o melhor é que nenhum deles é totalmente bom, aproximando-os da humanidade.

[R.K. Cowles]

2 3/4 stars

[Alan Bach]

I not sure what made me want to read the Nihongi when I wasn't a fan of the Kojiki. I actually liked the mythological accounts more here despite the translator's strange derision of the text he was working on. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with the version of the Kojiki that I had read long ago translating all names to English even when the Japanese name is better known even in the English speaking parts of the world. Unfortunately, the details of the gods are scant and like the Kojiki you don't really get a good picture of any of them.

A greater portion of the book tells accounts of the various emperors/empresses. I was quite surprised how many empresses there were given I thought I heard that enpresses nowadays are not allowed to see the imperial regalia. This section of the book on the surface seems similar to the Norse Heimskringla, which gives a long account of kings in sequence. But while the Heimskringla generally gave a general feel of each king and went into detail of their major exploits the Nihongi feels a lot more like listing all the fragmentary details it knows of each ruler. This was fine when details were more scant of the early rulers, and so what survived were the major events (although it was funny that this text is partially used to justify the divine rule of the emperors/empresses, yet one early emperor struggled to defeat 80 bandits. Plus the many rulers that followed that struggled to control their Korean vassals). It became tedious when there were more details on the more recent rulers and I had to read all the random edicts and promotions issued and trips taken in the the ruler's life.

[Monica]

It's a difficult book, indeed.I tried so many times to read all Japanese name without get bored.But at least, it's a must have-book to all Japanese mania.The story is perfect to told about ancient Japan and the tradition among them.

[Suzanne]

First: please look at my review to the kojiki.
Most of that written there is also topic of the nihongi.
Nihon is Land of the Sun, one of many names of Japan. In difference to kojiki the nihongi is full of gods (mostly) and goddesses (very fewer) who are supposed to create a relation between kami (goddesses, gods) and old Japanese noble families.
As kojiki is more real, the nihongi is more phantasy.
The kojiki mentions 50 per cent female, 50 per cent male kami.
The kojiki seems to be next to Shintoo (the old Japanese religion: way of the kami), the nihongi next to Buddhism.

I own both books and read them uncountable times. If I have to say, what is better I say kojiki.