Motoori Norinaga · Philosophy

The Kojiki-den: Thirty-Five Years with an Ancient Text

How Norinaga&rsquo;s patient, decades-long commentary on the almost unreadable <em>Kojiki</em> of 712 CE became a philosophical method in its own right - letting the ancient words speak without forcing them into Chinese categories, and reconstructing a lost language and world in the process.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Norinaga devoted some thirty-five years to the Kojiki-den , a complete commentary on the 712 CE Kojiki , and that his method was to reconstruct the ancient language exactly and let it speak, rather than force it into Chinese or modern categories. Explain why this patient philology counted, for Norinag…

Leads to Ō no Yasumaro.

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