Chapter · Japan · Legends
A book that gives several versions
Japan's oldest chronicle, and the way it contradicts itself
Japan has two founding books, and the fuller one dates from 720. What makes it singular is not what it tells: it is that scene after scene it gives several versions of the same episode and announces them as such. This path reads the English translation of 1896, footnotes included, and looks at what archaeology has found of the objects in the story.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 1Out of the cave for a complimentThe sun goddess does not leave her cave for a mirror or a dance: she leaves because one prayer is better spoken than the rest. And it was not her brother's vandalism that drove her in.10 min
- 2Eight heads and eight tubs of sakeEight heads, eight tubs of sake, and a sword discovered because one blade notched on another. The story even gives the addresses of both weapons, in two different shrines.9 min
- 3Three objects, and what has been found of themJapan's three regalia come out of a cave and a serpent's tail. The mirror burned, the sword sank, and the curved jewels exist by the hundred, sometimes in stones not found in Japan.10 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.