Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/22

xii whom the superior sanctity of the Japanese language is not an article of faith, will probably agree with Mr. Aston in denying to this conjectural restoration the credit of representing the genuine words into which Japanese eighth century students of history read off the text of the “Records.”

To the translator the question above mooted is not one of great importance. The text itself must form the basis of his version, and not any one’s,—not even Motowori’s,—private and particular reading of it. For this reason none of the Honorifics which Motowori inserts as prefixes to nouns and terminations to verbs have been taken any notice of, but the original has been followed, character by character, with as great fidelity as was attainable. The author too has his Honorifics; but he does not use them so plentifully or so regularly as it pleases Motowori to represent him as having intended to do. On the other hand, Motowori’s occasional emendations of the text may generally be accepted. They rarely extend to more than single words; and the errors in the earlier editions may frequently be shown to have arisen from careless copying of characters originally written, not in the square, but in the cursive form. The translator has separately considered each case where various readings occur, and has mentioned them in the Notes when they seemed of sufficient importance. In some few cases he has preferred a reading not approved by Motowori, but he always mentions Motowori’s reading in a Foot-note.

The main body of the text contains but little to perplex any one who has made a special study of the early Japanese writings, and it has already been noticed that there is an admirable exegetical literature at the student’s command. With the Songs embedded in the prose text the case is different, as some of them are among the most difficult things in the language, and the commentators frequently arrive at most discordant interpretations of the obscurer passages. In the present version particulars concerning each Song have, except in a very few cases where