Reappropriating the Japanese Myths: Motoori Norinaga and the Creation Myths of the Kojiki and Nihon shoki

Abstract

How are myths understood ? This essay examines the centrality of Motoori Norinaga's interpretation of the Japanese myths for present-day understandings of these myths. It shows that Norinaga's theories and his preference for the Kojiki over the Nihon shoki in reflecting his theory of mono no aware (the pathos of things) continues to influence our interpretation and evaluations of these texts and their contents. It argues for the need of a meta-history, a study of how interpreters have attempted to understand the myths, rather than attempting to recover the original contents or meanings of these texts and their myths.