Le troisième livre du Kojiki, une suite inutile ou une fin indispensable ?

Abstract

Among the studies of the Kojiki, it is the third and final volume that remains least known, and it is only songs that are usually remembered. The purpose of this article is to show that not only does the third book fit perfectly into the general economy of the Kojiki but also that it is the necessary conclusion. It thus supports the hypothesis that there was an author who put in myths, legendary stories, and probably some historical elements. The author’s originality lies in not combining these in a historical pattern as the Nihon shoki does but in referring to the rhythm proposed by the mythical matter itself: two opposing elements followed by a third repeating the first attenuated. There are thus three cycles, each comprising three sequences. These sequences are built around the story of birth linked to fire, a journey in an otherworld, and followed by birth at the water’s edge. This pattern is repeated and transformed. It passes from well-marked and solitary elements in the first cycle, to a weaker replica in the second, and finishes with attenuated echoes in the last. It is this appeased final that logically closes the Kojiki.