Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/82

lxxii said, “Historical criticism, that is, judgment, is practised not for the purpose of disbelieving, but of believing. Its object is not to find fault with the author, but to ascertain how much of what he says may be reasonably taken as true.” Moreover, even in what is not to be accepted as historic fact there is often much that is valuable from other points of view. If, therefore, we lose a thousand years of so-called Japanese history, it must not be forgotten that Japanese mythology remains as the oldest existing product of the Altaïc mind.

The following is a list of all the Japanese works quoted in this Introduction and in the Notes to the Translation. For the sake of convenience to the English reader all the titles have been translated excepting some few which, mostly on account of their embodying a recondite allusion, do not admit of translation:—


 * Catalogue of Family Names,, by Prince Mata.
 * Chronicles of Japan (generally quoted as the “Chronicles,”) or, by Prince Toneri and others.
 * Chronicles of Japan Continued,, by Sugano Ason Mamichi, Fujihara no Ason and others.
 * Chronicles of Japan Explained,, by no Yasukata.
 * Chronicles of the Old Matters of Former Ages,, authorship uncertain.
 * Collection of a Myriad Leaves,, by (probably).
 * Collection of Japanese Songs Ancient and Modern,, by Ki no and others.
 * Commentary on the Collection of a Myriad Leaves,, by Kamo no.