In search of times past
In search of times past
This chapter traces how Motoori Norinaga built on the base provided by Kamo no Mabuchi, extending the study of the past from poetry to the Record of Ancient Matters (Kojiki). Norinaga devoted his life to deciphering this text, because he believed it contained the essence of a Japan that had been lost after the introduction of things Chinese. Xenophobic to the core, Norinaga thought it was possible via this kind of scholarship not only to discover Japan’s origins but even to generate a return to a ‘prelapsarian’ state of harmony. The anti-Chinese rhetoric was not accepted by all and had no discernible influence on Tokugawa foreign policy, but it certainly led to a flourishing tradition of ‘Japanese studies’ that challenged the high status previously enjoyed by the study of classical Chinese.
Keywords: Motoori Norinaga, Record of Ancient Matters, Kojiki, nostalgia, golden age, Tale of Genji, Japanese grammar, Shintō
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
