Chronicles Of Japan Research Articles

Yoroi-kizome, Genbuku and taking the tonsure: rites of passage among the Bushi in Feudal Japan

The earliest written records extant in Japan were compiled during the Nara period (710-781 A.D.). They are the Kojiki, "Record of Ancient Matters", 712 A.D.; the Nihongi or Nihon Shoki, "Chronicle of Japan", 720 A.D.; and the Many ōshū,"Collection of a Myriad Leaves", an anthology of poetry first published in 759 A.D. but also containing material from the Asuka period(ca 500-700 A.D.). Prior to these writings, the only existing evidence of practices which may be defined as rites of passage is archaeological. From the Neolithic Early Jōmon period (4500-3000 B.C.) there are indications of a systematic extraction of teeth among a sizeable proportion of the population, the ratio being about 70 per cent males and 30 per cent females, with considerable regional variations (Blomberg 1990: 243). In its most drastic form this comprised the removal of the canines and incisors of both maxilla and mandible. This kind of mutilation eventually came to include an equally systematic filing down of the maxillary incisors into a fork or trident shape, with examples of both practices in the same individual. From the evidence of burnt clay figurines dating from the Jōmon as well as theYayoi period (ca 250 B.C.—ca 250 A.D.) it appears that some kind of facial adornment existed. Whether this took the form of scarring, tattooing or painting is of course impossible to ascertain, but it may have been another means of indicating individual distinction or social position.

The Japan Chronicle and its editors: reflecting Japan to the press and the people, 1891-1940

In this paper, I use the Japan Chronicle as a reference point for the internal idea of Japan and the struggle to define it waged between the press and the government. In describing the underlying principles adopted by the Chronicle , I look back at some early moral and intellectual influences on Robert Young, its founder and first editor. I then compare the stance and behaviour of the k saka Asahi Shinbun and the Chronicle on issues of press freedom, with specific reference to the White Rainbow Incident ( hakk l jiken , also known as the k saka Asahi Incident). I then analyze the differences between the two papers in their treatment of political affairs following the Manchurian Incident and show the Chronicle , the Japanese government and a supine Japanese press at the height of their three-cornered struggle for the internal idea of Japan. I conclude with historical observations on the foregoing.

The Japan Chronicle and its editors: reflecting Japan to the press and the people, 1891-1940

In this paper, I use the Japan Chronicle as a reference point for the internal idea of Japan and the struggle to define it waged between the press and the government. In describing the underlying principles adopted by the Chronicle , I look back at some early moral and intellectual influences on Robert Young, its founder and first editor. I then compare the stance and behaviour of the k saka Asahi Shinbun and the Chronicle on issues of press freedom, with specific reference to the White Rainbow Incident ( hakk l jiken , also known as the k saka Asahi Incident). I then analyze the differences between the two papers in their treatment of political affairs following the Manchurian Incident and show the Chronicle , the Japanese government and a supine Japanese press at the height of their three-cornered struggle for the internal idea of Japan. I conclude with historical observations on the foregoing.

The Japan Chronicle and its editors: reflecting Japan to the press and the people, 1891-1940

In this paper, I use the Japan Chronicle as a reference point for the internal idea of Japan and the struggle to define it waged between the press and the government. In describing the underlying principles adopted by the Chronicle , I look back at some early moral and intellectual influences on Robert Young, its founder and first editor. I then compare the stance and behaviour of the k saka Asahi Shinbun and the Chronicle on issues of press freedom, with specific reference to the White Rainbow Incident ( hakk l jiken , also known as the k saka Asahi Incident). I then analyze the differences between the two papers in their treatment of political affairs following the Manchurian Incident and show the Chronicle , the Japanese government and a supine Japanese press at the height of their three-cornered struggle for the internal idea of Japan. I conclude with historical observations on the foregoing.

Endgame: the English-language press networks of East Asia in the run-up to war, 1936–41

This article examines the formation between c.1890 and 1937 of three networks of English-language newspapers in China and Japan. Of these, one network was closely associated with the American-owned Japan Advertiser , and another with the British-owned Japan Chronicle . The Gaimush l (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) assembled the third network to promote an understanding of Japan and her place in the world and to check the influence of the other two. The article analyses the competition for readers and influence between the Gaimush l network and the two foreign networks, and follows its development from covert to overt competition. It then asks why this competition became so intense, and considers what was at stake, followed by an outline of the 'endgame' in which the Gaimush l network culled the newspapers, news agencies and staff of the Japan Advertiser and Japan Chronicle networks.

Japan's Foreign Relations 600 to 1200 A.D.: A Translation from Zenrin Kokuhoki

N Account of Good Neighborly Relations as a Treasure of Our Country is the title Zuikei Shiuho iMAM (1391-1473) gave his Zenrin kokuhoki lk IiSi-2 (completed in 1470), a chronicle of Japan's foreign from prehistoric times to the fifteenth century. Zuikei Shuho, a Zen priest of Shokokuji UiHW1, temple in Kyoto, explains in his preface that good relations (zenrin Ha) mean, first, diplomatic exchanges, primarily with China, and, secondly, foreign trade that would contribute to the country's wealth. These two themes indeed marked the period of diplomatic history from 600 to 1200 A.D. that Zuikei Shuho took up in the first part of his compilation of Japanese and foreign records of neighborly relations. For this period, as discussed in the introduction to the translation of that section published in MN 54:1 (Spring 1999), he focused on the exchange of official embassies and the comings and goings of priests between Japan and the continent. Zuikei Shuho was himself, in fact, a diplomat in that in 1464 he wrote the official letter addressed by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa YR#IiR (1436-1490) to Emperor Xianzong WA (r. 1464-1487) of Ming China.1 It is therefore not surprising that diplomatic were his first concern. History, however, forced him to change his focus for the period from 1200 to 1392: during these years diplomatic exchanges were under the shadow of military confrontations in Kyushu and unrest on the sea between Korea and Japan. The period was marked by the two Mongol invasions of Japan, 1274 and 1281, and by piracy in the East China Sea.

A brief history of recognition of the Kuroshio

Since ancient times the Japanese and Asians have encountered the Kuroshio. For instance, records of long-distance driftings that must have been greatly influenced by the Kuroshio are found in official chronicles of Japan from before 833 and a biography of Ganjin, the Chinese Buddhist who arrived in Japan on a religious mission in 754 across the Kuroshio. In the seventh and eighth centuries, some of the ships of Japanese envoys to China during the Tang Dynasty crossed the Kuroshio in the East China Sea, despite frequent incidents of ship wrecks. In the Momoyama and early Edo periods (1592–1635) Japanese ships with the shogunate license for foreign trade crossed the Kuroshio east of Taiwan bound for Luzon. During those periods, however, no mention of the Kuroshio has been found, except for that of S. Vizcaı́no, the Spanish navigator who reported a segment of strong current east of the Boso Peninsula in 1614. After the National Isolation Policy was enforced in 1635, the building of large ships and navigation in waters beyond where the coast was visible were prohibited in Japan, and hence it seems unlikely that many early books from this period will mention the Kuroshio. However, by searching and deciphering early books, the author has found many important notes, descriptions and illustrations referring to the Kuroshio in maps and books from the Edo period (1603–1867). Terms “Luo-Ji” and “Wei-Lü”, Chinese equivalents of “Kuroshio”, were searched for in Chinese classics and were examined. The term “Luo-Ji” (Rakusai in Japanese) was cited by some Japanese books written in the Edo period referring to the Kuroshio in the East China Sea. Meanwhile, the term “Wei-Lü” (Biryo in Japanese) was considered to be too mythical to be used in Japan as indicating the Kuroshio, although Needham (1971) inferred that the “Wei-Lü” had been used since ancient times as the Chinese equivalent of “Kuroshio”. To clarify the evolution of types of image of the current recognized as the Kuroshio, early books were sought in which there was recognition by navigators from Western countries of the existence of the Kuroshio, although some of them were unavailable for reading. Examining and comparing synoptically these Japanese, Chinese and Western records, the author reached the following conclusions. The term “Kuroshio” (blackish stream or tide) originated as a local synonym for “Kurose Gawa” (a river over blackish shallows) among inhabitants of the Izu Islands. However, it really indicated only a branch of the actual Kuroshio that flows over shallows along the Izu Ridge. This type of image of the Kuroshio is called the “short concentrated stream”. Towards the end of the 18th century it came to refer to a somewhat longer (about 400 km) path of the Kuroshio, which had become better known among Japanese people, through the publishing of maps, local geographies, accounts of trips and novels. This type of image of the Kuroshio is called the “middle-distance concentrated stream”. However, the “conception of fragmented currents” prevalent at that period probably delayed the recognition that the Kuroshio is a long continuous stream. From the end of the 18th century to the mid-19th century, Westerners collected information about Japan's geography and carried out research and made surveys of the Kuroshio, when they sent naval vessels to Japan in order to establish commercial relations. Before the Meiji Restoration (1868), Westerners viewed the “Kuroshio” as a broadly dispersing stream along the Japanese Islands and Taiwan. This type of image of the Kuroshio is called the “long dispersed stream”, and it was predominant until the modern picture of the “long concentrated stream” was first recognized by the Japanese in about 1930. Ironically, written use of the term “Kuroshio” is found in documents that appeared after the Japanese had ceased oceanic activities under the National Isolation Policy. During these two hundred-plus years, the types of image of the Kuroshio underwent major changes, reflecting the turbulent national and international conditions encountered in Japan.

On the use of the Chinese Hsuan-ming calendar to predict the times of eclipses in Japan

According to the Nihongi, a chronicle of Japan written in A.D. 720, the first Chinese calendar was brought to Japan in the year A.D. 554. It is now generally agreed that before this time there was no native calendrical system and that earlier dates given in the Nihongi were calculated retrospectively, and in some cases inaccurately, using Chinese systems (Nakayama, 1969: 7–8). The Chinese calendar was not only a method for keeping track of the days but also a complete astronomical system for calculating the movements of the heavenly bodies.

Protohistoric Yamato: Archaeology of the First Japanese State.

Nara is located in the center of what is known today as the Kinai region of Japan. The ancient name for the region was the Go-Kinai (five-within the royal domain), referring to the five provinces of which it was composed: Settsu, Kawachi, Izumi, Yamato and Yamashiro. The name Yamato, presented above variously as a provincial unit (corresponding to the present-day Nara Prefecture), or geographical unit (the Nara Basin only), is also sometimes expanded and applied on a regional scale to mean the Kinai region. This is particularly true in scholarship dealing with the fifth and sixth centuries when Yamato was in ascendance. Therefore, the Nara Basin and its archeology are the keys to unlocking the mysteries of the emergence of Japanese civilization and the early state in Japan. These mysteries are entailed in the earliest recorded history of Japan--references to Japanese island countries and queens in the Chinese dynastic histories of the third to fifth centuries A.D., and references to kings and emperors in two late fifth- to early sixth-century sword inscriptions and in the extant chronicles of Japan compiled in the early eighth century.

古代宮殿建築における前殿と朝堂 : その 1 飛鳥浄御原宮および藤原宮

The Shishin-den, the supreme hall of the Imperial Domicile (Dairi-seiden, 内裏正殿) in Heian-kyu, is described as Zen-den (前殿, the State Chamber) in the Nihon-kouki (one of the Rikkoku-shi, the authentic chronicles of Japan compiled by the central government between the 8th and the 9th centuries). The terms of Zen-den are also recorded in the Nihon-shoki and the Shoku-nihongi (one of the Rikkoku-shi) ; therefore the Shishin-den is supposed to have followed not only Dairi-seiden, but also Zen-den of the former ages. The aim of this study is to show the architectural characteristics of the original Shishin-den by investigating the histories of Zen-den and Dairi-seiden, on the basis of the Rikkoku-shi and the excavation of the ancient imperial palace site. In order to study these facts, however, it is necessary to show the relations between Zen-den and Daigoku-den (大極殿), Daian-den (大安殿), Chodo (朝堂, the Halls of State), which were the central buildings in the palace grounds. Therefore, another aim of this study is to investigate the relations between those buildings in each palace from Asuka-kiyomihara-kyu to Heian-kyu. As the terms of Zen-den and Chodo recorded in the Rikkoku-shi were referred to chinese terminology, we'd like to study the origin of those buildings and definitely show their characteristics by comparing them with the examples of Qiandian (前殿) and Zhaotang (朝堂) of the ancient imperial palace in China. On this paper, Part 1, the State Chamber and the Halls of State of Asuka-kiyomihara-kyu and Fujiwara-kyu have been investigated. The results obtained from this study are as follows : 1) Daigoku-den described in the chapter of the Emperor Tenmu of the Nihon-shoki is supposed to have been the identical building with Daian-den of Asuka-kiyomihara-kyu which was the supreme hall of Nai-cho, or the residential part of the Imperial Palace. 2) The original Daigoku-den in Japan was built at Fujiwara-kyu as Zen-den, that is, the State Chamber of Chucho, or the formal part of the Imperial Palace, imitating Taijidian (太極殿) in Chang'an capital in the Tang age. 3) Both Chodo of Asuka-kiyomihara and Fujiwara Imperial Palace were used not only as halls for official ceremonies and banquets, but also as chambers for administering State affairs.

The Phase of Manyo-shu Vol. 13(<Feature Article>Ballads of The Ancient Chronicle & of Chronicles of Japan, and Manyo-shu)

The Phase of Manyo-shu Vol. 13(<Feature Article>Ballads of The Ancient Chronicle & of Chronicles of Japan, and Manyo-shu)

Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A. D. 697

The Nihongi is the standard native history of Ancient Japan. This volume, originally published in 1896 and now of classic status makes accessible to European scholars the extensive store of material for the study of mythology, folk-lore, early civilization and manners and customs which it contains.

Nihongi. Chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to a.d. 697. Translated from the original Chinese and Japanese by W. G. Aston. xx + 407 + 443 pp. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., London, 1956. 45s.

Nihongi. Chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to a.d. 697. Translated from the original Chinese and Japanese by W. G. Aston. xx + 407 + 443 pp. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., London, 1956. 45s. - Volume 89 Issue 3-4

The Sumu-Sanu Myth. Notes and Remarks on the Jimmu Tenno Myth

1) The present author does not refer in particular to the research of contemporary Japanese scholars and their work in mythological subjects before 1945. It was permeated with nationalistic trends or avoidance of the problem of the origin of the Imperial family in the mythological period. A Western reader may find valuable information about the modern nationalistic interpretation of the Japanese myths in The National Faith of Japan: A Study of Moder-n Shint6 (London, 1938) by D. C. Holtom. However, a student of the prehistory of Japan may find in the Kokutai no Hongi, compiled in 1937 by the National Spirit Cultural Research Institute, the most dangerous use of mythology, see Kokutai no Hongi, Cardinal Principles of the National Entity of Japan (2nd ed., Cambridge, Mass., 1949) by John Owen Gauntlett with an introduction by Robert King Hall. Strange to say, prominent historians, professors of the T6kyo Imperial University, like Kuroita Katsumi, Hisamatsu Sen'ichi, and others belonged to the Committee of the NSCRI. The present Emperor of Japan by his rescript issued on New Year's Day, 1946, denied the divinity of the Emperor of Japan. 2) For the English translation of the Kojiki we shall refer to Basil Hall Chamberlain's The Kojiki or Records of Ancient Matters, second edition with annotations by W .C. Aston, published with the permission of The Asiatic Society of Japan, T6ky6, by J. L. Thompson & Co., Ltd., Kobe, 1932; henceforth abbreviated as ETK. 3) For the English translation of the Nihonshoki we shall refer to W. G. Aston's Nihongi, Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. Translated from the original Chinese and Japanese, 2 vols., London, published for the Society by Kegan Paul, French, Trubner et Co., Ltd., 1896, as the Supplement I of the Transactions and Proceedings of The Japan Society, London; henceforth abbreviated as ETN.

On the Astronomical Observations recorded in the "Nihongi," the ancient Chronicle of Japan

On the Astronomical Observations recorded in the "Nihongi," the ancient Chronicle of Japan