まあちゃまの今語り

The Significance of the Name Coincidence

Although the mystery of the coincidence of name between Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto and Jimmu Tennow has not yet solved, it seems necessary for us to take into our consideration that in addition to the vertical relation of the Heaven and the Earth, there would be third intermediary aspect, the Sea. The reason why the complier of the Chronicle of Japan inserted the story of Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto after that of the descending of Ninigi-no-mikoto form the Heaven to the Earth would be that he should have been eager to suggest the existence of the third party.

ちゃぽちゃんのお絵かき

今日は、ちゃぽちゃんは、お絵かきをしているようです。

”うん！ちゃぽ、お絵かきだ～い好き！”

The Mystery of the Name Coincidence

After all, the mystery of the name coincidence between Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto and the real name of Jimmu-Tennow has not yet been unraveled until now. Were they a same person, indeed? It is likely that this mystery would be related with the process of Japanese ancient integration. The complier of the Chronicle of Japan must have left a message in order to transmit something important to posterity.

Japan history politics

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Was Jimmu Tennow named after his grandfather?

In Japan, there is a custom, particularly in traditional fields, that one of offspring succeeds to the name of his prominent ancestor. According to this convention, it is probable that Jimmu-Tennow would have been named after his grandfather, Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto. To our regret, however, we do not find anything certain to prove that in those days they had followed it as an established convention.

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Two Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto

Moreover, while wise Siotutu-no-oji in the second volume recommended Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto, who was called Yama-hiko as a nickname, to visit to the sea, in the third one, he advised Kamiyamato-iware-hiko-no-mikoto, whose real name was referred to be Hikohohodemi in the Chronicle of Japan, to the place surrounded by lush mountains on four sides. Considering Yama, which is a part of his nickname, in Japanese means mountain, we can find curious incompatibility between two Hikohohodemi.

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Hikohohodemi-no-mikoto and Jimmu Tennow

By the way, the complier of the Chronicle of Japan left the real name of Kamiyamato-iware-hiko-no-mikoto at one of the opening paragraphs of the third volume. Strange as it seems, that is Hikohohodemi, which is the same name with that of the hero, who visited to the palace of sea and returned, in the second volume. Is it nothing but a coincidence, or not?

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Sumera-mikoto and Japan

　On the other hand, the complier of the Kojiki began to describe the terms of the Sumera-mikoto at the first time when Kamiyamato-iware-hiko-no-mikoto had ascended to the Tennow at the capital palace, Kashihara-no-miya afterwards. What does this difference suggest indeed? It would be plausible that the complier of the Chronicle of Japan would have been more conscious of continuity as a nation from pre-expedition to post-expedition era than that of the Kojiki would. The process of the integration of Japan in the ancient time would have been initiated by the force of a nation which had succeeded the lineage of deities of Takama-no-hara.

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建国記念日のちゃぽちゃん

今日は、日本国の建国記念日です。

”わ～ぁ、すごいなぁ。２６６９年前に、日本は、建国されたんだね！”

Kamiyamato-iware-hiko-no-mikoto as Hitugi-no-mikoto

Before we go to forward to the story of the expedition toward the East of Jimmu Tennow, it is desirable to explain the expression of Kamiyamato-iware-hiko-no-mikoto. Because the complier of the Chronicle of Japan described his title as Sumera-mikoto, Japanese pronunciation for the Tennow, though he, at that time, was not yet in a position as the Tennow but as the Hitugi-no-mikoto, which was the title of the Crown Prince or the successor of the prime officiate of the nation.

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The Heaven and the Earth in the Japanese History

In How did the Chronicle of Japan and the Kojiki Established, Yuuko Kuranishi points out that the complier of the Chronicle of Japan regarded the position of the Tennow as one of descendants of deities from the Heaven, maybe Takama-no-hara, while that of the Kojiki as a sacred offspring landing on the Earth, where would have been Ashihara-no-naka-tu kuni or Izumo. The key concept is “heaven and earth”. We can read this concept, heaven and earth, from some expression left in both of two history books.

Japan history politics

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