Re-Examing Japanese Mythologies: Why the Nihon Shoki has two books of myths but the Kojiki only one. In:「東西学術研究所紀要」第53輯 (Tōzai gakujutsu kenkyūsho kiyō 53, pp. 13–39). (original) (raw)

2020, Tōzai gakujutsu kenkyūsho kiyō

Initially, the so-called "Japanese myths" were a textual product of the Kojiki (712) and the Nihon shoki (720). In the course of the centuries, these myths were altered, rewritten, supplemented, and later eventually exploited to serve Japanese nationalism. As a result, even today in using the word "Japanese myths" many people think of the Kojiki as the official mythology and of Amaterasu Ōmikami as the genuine ancestor god of the imperial family. The creation of this image as a monotonously uniform mythology is the result of various developments and ideologies, but comparative mythology bears part of the responsibility as well. However, since the late 1960s, Japanese scholars have conducted a close reading of the mythical narratives contained in the first book of the Kojiki and in the two initial books of the Nihon shoki, respectively. This has revealed distinct differences between the two corpora, dispelling the image of a homogeneous mythology. These text-oriented approaches can offer a viable answer to the thorny question of why there are two books of myths in the Nihon shoki whereas the Kojiki has only one. This paper will elucidate some of the reasons for the plurality and variability of Japanese myths as well as why it took so long to give a convincing answer to that question. キーワード/ key words：古事記・日本書紀神話 (myths in Kojiki and Nihon shoki) 、比較神話論 (comparative mythology) 、古事記神話の研究史(history of research on Kojiki myths) 、構想 (conceptualization) 、上代史(pre-Heian history)

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