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Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters (Translations from the Asian Classics) (Paperback)

Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters (Translations from the Asian Classics) Cover Image
By No Yasumaro Ō, Gustav Heldt (Translator)
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Description


Japan's oldest surviving narrative, the eighth-century Kojiki, chronicles the mythical origins of its islands and their ruling dynasty through a diverse array of genealogies, tales, and songs that have helped to shape the modern nation's views of its ancient past. Gustav Heldt's engaging new translation of this revered classic aims to make the Kojiki accessible to contemporary readers while staying true to the distinctively dramatic and evocative appeal of the original's language. It conveys the rhythms that structure the Kojiki's animated style of storytelling and translates the names of its many people and places to clarify their significance within the narrative. An introduction, glossaries, maps, and bibliographies offer a wealth of additional information about Japan's earliest extant record of its history, literature, and religion.

About the Author


O no Yasumaro (d. 723) was a nobleman of the Japanese court whose O clan ruled over an area bearing the same name near the eighth-century capital of Nara. Gustav Heldt is an associate professor of Japanese literature at the University of Virginia and the author of The Pursuit of Harmony: Poetry and Power in Early Heian Japan.

Product Details
ISBN: 9780231163897
ISBN-10: 0231163894
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication Date: September 9th, 2014
Pages: 312
Language: English
Series: Translations from the Asian Classics