The Yijing Principles in the Japanese Creation Myth: A Study of the Jindai-No-Maki (‘Chapters on the Age of the Gods’) in the Nihon Shoki (‘The Chronicles Of Japan’)

Abstract

Abstract The Yijing (‘Classic of Changes’) is an important text in Daoist and Confucian traditions in China. It also served as a building block of ancient Japanese culture. The Japanese creation myth described in the Jindai no maki (‘Chapters on the Age of the Gods’) of the Nihon shoki (‘Chronicles of Japan’, 720 CE) was strongly influenced by such Yijing-related concepts as taiji (‘Supreme Ultimate’), yinyang (the two complementary and contradictory forces in the universe), qiankun (first two trigrams representing heaven and earth), sancai (three powers or realms of the universe: heaven, earth, man), wuxing (five phases or agents), and bagua (eight trigrams). The Japanese creation myth was later Confucianised in the Tokugawa period (1603–1868), when Japanese Confucian and Shinto scholars provided the Neo-Confucian metaphysical underpinning for Shinto mythology. Based on a close reading of the Jindai no maki, this study aims to investigate how Yijing-related concepts were used to construct the Japanese creation myth and how Tokugawa Confucian and Shinto scholars further elaborated upon it.