Japanese Historical Text Initiative (JHTI) is a searchable online database of Japanese historical documents and English translations. It is part of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. [1]
Delmer M. Brown started the process of establishing JHTI in 1998. [2] The development of JHTI involved negotiations with the University of Tokyo Press and the National Institute of Japanese Literature. [3]
JHTI is an expanding online collection of historical texts. The original version of every paragraph is cross-linked with an English translation. The original words in Japanese and English translation are on the same screen. [4] There are seven categories of writings, [2] including
These works were compiled by officials of the Imperial Court at the command of the emperors. [2]
These records, Fudoki , were compiled by provincial officials according to imperial edicts during the first half of the 8th century. [2]
This was a compilation of religious law and civil law. [2]
These historical tales ( monogatari ) were about what was said and done by the prominent historical figures in aristocratic and military clans in feudal Japan [2]
These three histories were written in ways that mirror the religious and political interests of their authors. [2]
These works are about State Shinto and the Empire of Japan. [2]
This category is for miscellaneous writings which are from Japan's pre-modern and early-modern periods. [2]
Susanoo is a kami in Japanese mythology. The younger brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mythical ancestress of the Japanese imperial line, he is a multifaceted deity with contradictory characteristics, being portrayed in various stories either as a wild, impetuous god associated with the sea and storms, as a heroic figure who killed a monstrous serpent, or as a local deity linked with the harvest and agriculture. Syncretic beliefs that arose after the introduction of Buddhism to Japan also saw Susanoo becoming conflated with deities of pestilence and disease.
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. 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 with the assistance of Ō no Yasumaro and presented to Empress Genshō.
The Imperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji period (1868–1912), after which the court was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo and integrated into the Meiji government. Upon the court being moved to Kyoto from Nagaoka by Emperor Kanmu (737-806), the struggles for power regarding the throne that had characterized the Nara period diminished. Kyoto was selected as the location for the court because of its "proper" amount of rivers and mountains which were believed to be the most auspicious surroundings for the new capital. The capital itself was built in imitation of Changan, closely following the theories of yin-yang. The most prominent group of people within the court was the civil aristocracy (kuge) which was the ruling class of society that exercised power on behalf of the emperor.
Ōkagami is a Japanese historical tale written in around 1119 by an unknown author. It covers the period 850 to 1025, the golden days of the Fujiwara family's rule. It is said to be a successor with the records of the Eiga Monogatari.
Tsuchigumo is a historical Japanese derogatory term for renegade local clans, and also the name for a race of spider-like yōkai in Japanese folklore. Alternative names for the mythological Tsuchigumo include yatsukahagi and ōgumo. In the Kojiki and in Nihon Shoki, the name was phonetically spelled with the four kanji 都知久母, and these words were frequently used in the Fudoki of Mutsu, Echigo, Hitachi, Settsu, Bungo and Hizen as well as others.
Fudoki (風土記) are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and folklore. Fudoki manuscripts also document local myths, rituals, and poems that are not mentioned in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki chronicles, which are the most important literature of the ancient national mythology and history. In the course of national unification, the imperial court enacted a series of criminal and administrative codes called ritsuryō and surveyed the provinces established by such codes to exert greater control over them.
Ōkuninushi, also known as Ō(a)namuchi or Ō(a)namochi among other variants, is a kami in Japanese mythology. He is one of the central deities in the cycle of myths recorded in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki alongside the sun goddess Amaterasu and her brother, the wild god Susanoo, who is reckoned to be either Ōkuninushi's distant ancestor or father. In these texts, Ōkuninushi (Ōnamuchi) is portrayed as the head of the kunitsukami, the gods of the earth, and the original ruler of the terrestrial world, named Ashihara no Nakatsukuni. When the heavenly deities (amatsukami) headed by Amaterasu demanded that he relinquish his rule over the land, Ōkuninushi agreed to their terms and withdrew into the unseen world, which was given to him to rule over in exchange. Amaterasu's grandson Ninigi then came down from heaven to govern Ashihara no Nakatsukuni and eventually became the ancestor of the Japanese imperial line.
Chōkyū (長久) was a Japanese era name after Chōryaku and before Kantoku. This period spanned the years from November 1040 through November 1044. The reigning emperor was Go-Suzaku-tennō (後朱雀天皇).
Jinnō Shōtōki is a Japanese historical book written by Kitabatake Chikafusa. The work sought both to clarify the genesis and potential consequences of a contemporary crisis in Japanese politics, and to dispel or at least ameliorate the prevailing disorder.
Gukanshō is a historical and literary work about the history of Japan. Seven volumes in length, it was composed by Buddhist priest Jien of the Tendai sect around 1220.
Eiga Monogatari is a Japanese monogatari which relates events in the life of courtier Fujiwara no Michinaga. It is believed to have been written by a number of authors, over the course of roughly a century, from 1028 to 1107.
Fujiwara no Kenshi, also known as Empress Dowager Biwadono (枇杷殿皇太后), was an empress consort of the Japanese Emperor Sanjō.
The historiography of Japan is the study of methods and hypotheses formulated in the study and literature of the history of Japan.
Delmer Myers Brown was an American academic, historian, writer, translator and Japanologist. He was a professor of Japanese history at the University of California at Berkeley.
Ōmononushi is a kami in Japanese mythology associated with Mount Miwa in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture. He is closely linked in the imperial myth cycle recorded in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki with the earthly kami Ōkuninushi (Ōnamuchi); indeed, the latter text treats 'Ōmononushi' as another name for or an aspect - more precisely, the spirit or mitama - of Ōnamuchi.
Isetsuhiko-no-mikoto is an obscure Japanese god of the wind who appears in both the Fudoki of Ise Province and the Fudoki of Harima Province.
Kuji River is a river in Fukushima Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It rises at the northern slope of Mount Yamizo, where the border of these three prefectures is located, and flows into Pacific Ocean at Hitachi and Tokai in Ibaraki Prefecture. It has a length of 124 kilometers (77 mi) and a drainage area of 1,490 square kilometers (580 sq mi), and is designated as a Class A river.
Kamimusubi (神産巣日), also known as Kamimusuhi among other variants, is a kami and god of creation in Japanese mythology. They are a hitorigami, and the third of the first three kami to come into existence (Kotoamatsukami), alongside Ame-no-Minakanushi and Takamimusubi, forming a trio at the beginning of all creation. The name is composed of kami, denoting deity, and musubi, meaning "effecting force of creation".