Kujiki
Also known as: Kujiki, Sendai Kujihongi, Sendai Kuji Hongi Taiseikyō, Records of Ancient Matters of Former Generations
A ten-book Heian-period pseudo-chronicle compiling Shinto cosmogony, imperial origins, and extensive clan genealogies. It reworks earlier materials and preserves unique variants, notably on Takeuchi no Sukune and provincial lineages.
Description
The Sendai Kuji Hongi (commonly, Kujiki) is an early Heian compilation that imitates the court chronicles while weaving cosmogony, imperial foundation narratives, and detailed genealogies of influential clans. Drawing on Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and regional Fudoki, it preserves alternate tellings of creation, land transfer to the heavenly descendants, and the eastern conquest attributed to Emperor Jimmu. It is especially notable for elaborating the career of the statesman Takeuchi no Sukune and for cataloguing kuni no miyatsuko lineages that anchor local cults and shrines in the imperial mythos. Although its ancient authorship claims are rejected by modern scholarship, the work remains a significant witness to medieval understandings of Shinto myth and political sacrality.
Historiography
Surviving in multiple medieval manuscript lineages, the Kujiki has long been treated with suspicion for anachronisms and verbatim reuse of Kojiki/Nihon Shoki. Edo-period kokugaku scholars debated its authenticity; modern consensus places its compilation in the early 10th century, while conceding that some notices may derive from lost regional records. Its reception history shows sustained use by shrine lineages and genealogists to legitimate local cults and offices.
Date Notes
Presents itself as an ancient record; modern scholarship deems it an early Heian compilation drawing on Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, Fudoki, and clan genealogies.
Major Characters
- Amaterasu
- Susanoo
- Ōkuninushi
- Ninigi
- Emperor Jimmu
Myths
- Creation and Ordering of the Land
- Heavenly Descent and Royal Genealogies
- Early Sovereigns and Divine Mandates
Facts
- Consists of ten books blending myth, imperial traditions, and extensive clan genealogies.
- Modern consensus dates compilation to the early 10th century despite traditional ancient attributions.
- Reuses and adapts materials from Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and regional Fudoki.
- Preserves expanded narratives on Takeuchi no Sukune and kuni no miyatsuko lineages.
- Served medieval shrine lineages as a charter myth legitimizing ritual and hereditary offices.
- Contains cosmogony, land-transfer (kuni-yuzuri), and Jimmu conquest narratives consistent with broader Shinto myth.
- Manuscript tradition shows medieval copying and re-editing, with variant readings and interpolations.
- Long treated as pseudo-history; nonetheless valuable for historiography of Shinto and local cults.
- Cites and integrates court and regional records, some now lost or fragmentary.
- Influenced genealogical compilations and shrine historiographies in later periods.