Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/337

Rh present writer's History of Japanese Literature, recently published by Mr. Heinemann.

The Idzumo Fudoki ( 733) contains some mythical passages, and the Kogoshiui adds a few items to the information given in the Kojiki and Nihongi. Neither of these works has been translated.

Roughly speaking, we find in the authorities above enumerated the myths of Japan as they were current at the beginning of the eighth century of our era. They must naturally contain a far older element. Sun-worship, which is the central feature of Shinto, probably dates back to a time when the Japanese had not yet left their continental home. This is a widespread cult among Tartar tribes.

The condition of material civilisation to which Shinto belongs may be gathered from the mention of bridges, iron, copper, mirrors, bellows for smelting metal, weaving, silk-culture, brewing, and various agricultural operations. Indications of the degree of mental culture are afforded by the facts that Chinese learning, with the art of writing, had reached Japan early in the fifth century, and Buddhism towards the middle of the sixth.

I shall now endeavour to give an outline of the narrative contained in these ancient records. In doing so, I shall not adhere to any one version of the story, but shall select those incidents which have an interest and significance for students of myth.

Both the Nihongi and the Kiujiki begin with a passage which is repudiated by the modern school of Shinto theologians, as in reality belonging to the materialistic philosophy of China. It runs as follows:—

"Of old, Heaven and Earth were not yet separated, and