The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters [Paperback]

Basil Hall Chamberlain (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1989

Written by imperial command in the eighth century, The Kojiki is the oldest surviving Japanese book. This compendium of early Japanese life provides a panorama of Japan during its formation.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Japanese (translation)

About the Author

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850û1935), was one of the foremost Western translators. His translations include A Handbook of Colloquial Japanese (1888) and Things Japanese (1890).

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 445 pages
• Publisher: Charles E. Tuttle Company; First Trade edition (December 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804814392
• ISBN-13: 978-0804814393
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,713,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Royal Pain to Read, June 4, 2005

By 

M. Young "maggldypie" (Silly Valley) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters (Paperback)

The Kojiki is the seminal work of Japan's Shinto belief system. There's no understanding Shintoism (and Japan) without it.
Unfortunately, for those of us who speak English, but not Japanese, a good translation is hard and expensive to find. Basil Hall Chamberlain's is the earliest, dating bck to the late 19th century. Unfortunately, this translation suffers from the worst of the furbelows and obfuscations of the late Victorian/Edwardian era. This includes rendering into Latin anything a Victorian scholar might consider a naughty bit. I hope the new edition coming out in September translates the translation for those of us who didn't attend Oxford.

All in all, you're better off with Donald Phillipe's (Sp?) more recent and lucid translation. But since that, too, is hard and expensive to find, take what you can get. The Kojiki's worth it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More for Study than Leisure, February 17, 2008

By 

Drew (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters (Tuttle Classics) (Paperback)

I got this book just because i was interested in the stories. while this book includes the entire Kojiki, it is on only about the top 1/3 of each page. the other 2/3 of each page are explanations and background information. Really good for studies or research, but much more information than i need.

21 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Pain Beyond All Pain Unless You're Fluent in Latin, July 7, 2006

By 

NY Bibliophile (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters (Tuttle Classics) (Paperback)

I did not realize that aside from the English language, one would also need a Latin language background. Add to that the way Victorian/Edwardians translated stuff and you get problems when things like translating names add to the complications. For instance: when is a name not a name? Well, instead of translating a proper name such as "Robert" to "Robert", "Robert" is translated to "Bright Fame." Tack on other descriptiveness and you get a headache - "His August Mighty Brightness met with Her Supreme Lovely Brightness" and you get the idea. Two stars for effort but for the average "Joe" (or the meaning of Joseph is "God shall add (another son)") I'd pass this on by.