Kojiki Uragaki
The Kojiki Uragaki (古事記裏書) is a one-volume commentary on the Kojiki of unknown authorship and date. It survives in a single manuscript held by the Ise Grand Shrine and produced by a medieval high priest of the shrine. It may show some influence of syncretistic Shingon Buddhism, and is considered an important work in the history of commentary upon the Kojiki.
Overview[edit]
The Kojiki Uragaki is a commentary on the Kojiki, an eighth-century work of Shinto historiography and mythology.[1]
Authorship and date[edit]
The Kojiki Uragaki is of unknown date and authorship.[1] Several theories as to the author have been proposed, such as Urabe Kanefumi (卜部兼文)[1] and Kitabatake Chikafusa.[1]
The Shinpukuji-bon (真福寺本) of the Kojiki mistakenly identifies the author of the Uragaki as Kanefumi, and its date of composition as the tenth year of Bun'ei (1273).[1]
Contents[edit]
The Kojiki Uragaki appears to show the influence the 1381 copy of the Kojiki produced by the Shingon monk Dōka (道果).[1] If this is the case, it would appear to also reflect the philosophy of Shingon Shintō (真言神道, or 叡尊流神道, Eizon-ryū Shintō), a syncretistic form of Shinto influenced by Shingon Buddhism.[1]
It is considered an important work in the history of Kojiki scholarship.[1]
Textual tradition and modern editions[edit]
The work survives in a single manuscript that is the basis for all later copies, known as the Dōshō-bon (道祥本) and held in the archives of the Ise Grand Shrine.[1] The manuscript has the title 古事記裏書注之 inscribed on its cover.[1] "Dōshō" was the Dharma name of the high priest (神主 kannushi) of Ise Grand Shrine Arakida Hōkō (荒木田法興), who copied the text and left a copyist's note.[1]
Facsimile editions have been produced by the Koten Hozon-kai (古典保存会, "Society for the Preservation of Classics")[1] and the Ise Grand Shrine Archives (神宮文庫 Jingū Bunko),[1] and modern printed editions have appeared in Shintō Sōsho Vol. 2 (神道叢書２)[1] and in Takashi Tanaka's Nihon Koten no Kenkyū (日本古典の研究).[1]
References[edit]
Works cited[edit]
- Onoda, Mitsuo (1983). "Kojiki Uragaki". Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典 (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. p. 602. OCLC 11917421.