The Teiki (
Background
editAccording to the Nihon Shoki:[1]
On the seventeenth day, the emperor, residing in his place in the Daigokuden, commanded Prince Kawashima, Prince Osakabe [etc...] to record a definitive edition of the Teiki and Jōko Shoji.
According to the Kojiki preface, Emperor Tenmu said:[2][3]
What I hear is that the Teiki and Honji brought about by the many houses already differ from the truth and contain many inaccuracies. Should those mistakes not be corrected now, the original meaning will be lost within but a few years. They are the basis of the national system and are the foundation of the imperial government. Thus, I would like to carefully examine the Teiki and Kyūji, remove the errors, and establish the truth for future generations.
He then had Hieda no Are memorize the contents of the Teiki and Kyūji, both of which were later used as historical sources for composing the Kojiki.
Title
editThe actual title of the text is unknown due to orthographic difficulties of old Japanese texts. The reading Teiki is taken from the on'yomi reading. In addition, traditional Japanese readings include Sumera Mikoto no Fumi and Sumerogi no Fumi. All literally mean "Imperial Chronicle".
The Kojiki preface makes reference to two other titles: Sumera Mikoto no Hitsugi (
Contents
editAs the text no longer exists, very little is actually known about it. The general view is that the Teiki described the imperial line. One theory claims that was a genealogy of the imperial line recording the reigns of each emperor.[4] Another theory, based on the literal title, claims that it was a record of imperial accomplishments, but that it would not have been appropriate as a genealogy.[6]
A competing theory identifies the second and third volume of the Kojiki as the actual contents of the Teiki.[citation needed] And yet another speculates that the Teiki and Kyūji were not two separate texts, but was rather a single unified text.[citation needed]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Sakamoto et al. 1965, pp. 445–446.
- ^ Kurano & Takeda 1958, pp. 45–47.
- ^ Yamaguchi & Kōnoshi 1997, pp. 21–23.
- ^ a b Kurano & Takeda 1958, p. 45.
- ^ Yamaguchi & Kōnoshi 1997, p. 21.
- ^ Yamaguchi & Kōnoshi 1997, p. 22.
References
edit- Kurano, Kenji; Takeda, Yūkichi (1958). Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Kojiki. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-060001-X.
- Sakamoto, Tarō; Ienaga, Saburō; Inoue, Mitsusada; Ōno, Susumu (1965). Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Nihon Shoki. Vol. 2. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-060068-0.
- Yamaguchi, Yoshinori; Kōnoshi, Takamitsu (1997). Nihon Koten Bungaku Zenshū: Kojiki. Tokyo: Shogakukan. ISBN 4-09-658001-5.