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: 2026/2/20 (14:35)

Course Overview

Naruhito’s accession as new emperor of Japan in 2019 was accompanied by extensive media coverage. Hardly an article on the subject (be it in or outside Japan) failed to mention the long tradition of the Japanese imperial house, allegedly stretching back nearly 2700 years to the first emperor Jinmu and his founding of the Japanese state. While many articles mentioned the mythical nature of both Jinmu and his founding of the state in 660 BCE, this did not deter them from emphasizing the ‘fact’ that Naruhito was already the 126th Japanese emperor – a number that only makes sense, if one accepts Jinmu’s historicity. This is only one example that shows the enduring legacy of Japan’s ancient myths, first recorded in the early eighth century in the court chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. This course traces the reception of these myths from the ancient through the modern periods, showing how thinkers reinterpreted (and at times reinvented) the narratives to adapt them to the needs of their respective times. This historical examination of the ancient myths’ reception and transformation takes place within the theoretical framework of cultural memory studies. Cultural memory studies are an interdisciplinary approach that stresses the construction of a society’s or a group’s perception of its own past as a foundation for its cultural identity. An examination of Japan’s mythology through this lens provides an illuminating perspective on the formation and transformation of Japanese cultural identity throughout its intellectual history.

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Prerequisites :
Required Ability :

Notes

Remote/On-site		Information regarding Moodle
●	対面授業
	リアルタイム-オンライン授業
	ハイブリッド授業（対面＋オンライン）
	オンデマンド型授業
	課題提出型授業

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資格 :

Course Objectives

	かなり優れている	優れている	及第である	一層の努力が必要
G_A-1 [修士：人文学と現代文化の理解] The class helps students understand the reception history of Japanese mythology from the ancient period to the present.	EXCELLENT LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "outstanding."	GOOD LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "good."	SAT/PASS LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "average and satisfactory."	DEFICIENT: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes falls below satisfactory; more effort and application are required to pass.
G_A-2 [修士：専修分野の知識と理解] The class introduces major sources of Japanese mythology and situates them within their historical context.	EXCELLENT LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "outstanding."	GOOD LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "good."	SAT/PASS LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "average and satisfactory."	DEFICIENT: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes falls below satisfactory; more effort and application are required to pass.
G_B-1-2a [修士：文献の読解力] Students read primary and secondary literature, thus acquiring skills needed for analysing Japanese mythology.	EXCELLENT LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "outstanding."	GOOD LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "good."	SAT/PASS LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "average and satisfactory."	DEFICIENT: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes falls below satisfactory; more effort and application are required to pass.
G_B-1-4 [修士：表現力] Students learn to express their opinion in in-class presentations, discussions and a written report.	EXCELLENT LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "outstanding."	GOOD LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "good."	SAT/PASS LEVEL: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes is evaluated as "average and satisfactory."	DEFICIENT: Student achievement in this area, as measured through his/her level of class preparation and participation, completion of assignments, and performance on the quizzes falls below satisfactory; more effort and application are required to pass.

九州大学文学部ディプロマ・ポリシー
九州大学文学部哲学コース・カリキュラムマップ(2025年度版)　　　九州大学文学部歴史学コース・カリキュラムマップ(2025年度版)
九州大学文学部文学コース・カリキュラムマップ(2025年度版)　　　九州大学文学部人間科学コース・カリキュラムマップ(2025年度版)
九州大学人文科学府人文基礎専攻ディプロマ・ポリシー　　　九州大学人文科学府人文基礎専攻・カリキュラムマップ(2025年度版)
九州大学人文科学府歴史空間論専攻ディプロマ・ポリシー　　　九州大学人文科学府歴史空間論専攻・カリキュラムマップ(2025年度版)
九州大学人文科学府言語・文学専攻ディプロマ・ポリシー　　　九州大学人文科学府言語・文学専攻・カリキュラムマップ(2025年度版)

Course Plan

授業形態（項目）		授業形態（内容）
●	講義
●	外国語演習
	原典資料演習
	実習／フィールド調査
	Problem-Based Learning （問題発見・解決型学習）
●	学生のプレゼンテーション
●	Moodle の使用
	学外実習
	野外実習

Textbooks : Each week's readings will be uploaded to moodle.
Reference Books :
Course Handouts :

Course Plan ()

	Tentative Weekly Schedules	Lecture	Exercise, Field trip etc.	Comments, suggestions for the course preparation, review, etc.
1	Overview	○		Ellwood, Robert. Myth: Key Concepts in Religion. Continuum, 2008, pp. 1–17. Heldt, Gustav. The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters. Columbia University Press, 2014, pp. 7–28.
2	Cultural Memory: Introduction to Aleida and Jan Assmann’s Concept	○		Assmann, Jan. Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination. Cambridge University Press, 2011, 15–69. Heldt, Gustav. The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters. Columbia University Press, 2014, pp. 28–60.
3	Oral and Written Myths: How Writing Transforms the Cultural Memory	○		Assmann, Jan. Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination. Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 70–110. Nellhaus, Tobias et al., ed. Theatre Histories: An Introduction. Routledge, 2016, pp. 27–32. Carlquist, Anders. “The Land-Pulling Myth and Some Aspects of Historic Reality,” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 37/2 (2010), pp. 188–193.
4	Tenmu and Jitō’s Historio¬graphical Project: The Political Mythologies of Kojiki and Nihon Shoki	○		Ooms, Herman. Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan: The Tenmu Dynasty, 650–800. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009, pp. 28–48. Philippi, Donald, trans. Kojiki. University of Tokyo Press, 1968, pp. 37–44, 163–185.
5	Central Mythology and Local Mythology: The Imperial Chronicles and the Fudoki	○		Palmer, Edwina. Harima Fudoki: A Record of Ancient Japan Reinterpreted, Translated, Annotated, and with Commentary. Brill, 2016, pp. 1–38. Aston, W.G., trans. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1896, pp. 64–108. Aoki, Michiko Yamaguchi. Records of Wind and Earth: A Translation of Fudoki with Introduction and Commentaries. Association of Asian Studies, 1997, pp. 82–86, 123.
6	Canonization and Interpretation: Sendai Kuji Hongi and Lectures on Nihon Shoki at the Heian Court	○		Assmann, Aleida. Cultural Memory and Western Civilization. Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 119–132. Teeuwen, Mark. “Sendai Kuji Hongi: Authentic Myths or Forged History?” Monumenta Nipponica 62/1 (2007), pp. 87–96. Bentley, John R. The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi: A New Examination of Texts, with a Translation and Commentary. Brill, 2006, pp. 155–164.
7	Harmonizing Myth and Ritual: Kogo Shūi and Engi Shiki	○		Segal, Robert A. Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 61–78. Bock, Felicia G., trans. Engi-Shiki: Procedures of the Engi Era. Books VI–X. Sophia University, 1972, pp. 85–88. Katō Genchi and Hoshino Hikoshirō, trans., Kogoshūi: Gleanings from Ancient Stories. Meiji Japan Society, 1925.
8	Medieval Mythology: Incorporating Japanese Myths into the Buddhist Cosmos	○		Kadoya Atsushi. “Myths, Rites, and Icons: Three Views of a Secret,” Bernhard Scheid and Mark Teeuwn, eds. The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion. Routledge, 2006, pp. 269–283. Weiss, David. The God Susanoo and Korea in Japan’s Cultural Memory: Ancient Myths and Modern Empire. Bloomsbury, 2022, pp. 113–143. Teeuwen, Mark and Hendrik van der Veere. Nakatomi Harae Kunge: Purification and Enlightenment in Late-Heian Japan. Iudicium, 1998, pp. 19–22.
9	Confucian Interpretations of Myth: Hayashi Razan, Arai Hakuseki, and Yamazaki Ansai	○		Burns, Susan L. Before the Nation: Kokugaku and the Imagining of Community in Early Modern Japan. Duke University Press, 2003, pp. 35–67. Bary, William T. de, Donald Keene, and Ryunoda Tsunoda. Sources of Japanese Tradition. Columbia University Press, 1958, pp. 355–360. Brownlee, John S. Japanese Historians and the National Myths, 1600–1945. UBC Press, 1997, pp. 15–19, 24–28, 42–53.
10	Kokugaku and the Rediscovery of the Kojiki: Motoori Norinaga and the Search for the Ancient Way	○		Isomae Jun’ichi. Japanese Mythology: Hermeneutics on Scripture. Equinox, 2010, pp. 108–125. Wehmeyer, Ann, trans. Kojiki-den: Book 1. Cornell University Press, 1997, pp. 33–64, 213–247.
11	Translating Myth: Western Encounters with Japanese Mythology	○		Wachutka, Michael. Historical Reality or Metaphoric Expression? Culturally Formed Contrasts in Karl Florenz’ and Iida Takesato’s Interpretations of Japanese Mythology. Lit, 2001, pp. 20–31. Tylor, Edward B. “Remarks on Japanese Mythology,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 6 (1877), pp. 55–60. Aston, W. G. Shinto (the Way of the Gods), Longmans, Green, and co., 1905, pp. 75–94.
12	Constructing Identity through Myth: The Ancient Chronicles in Modern Japanese Scholarship and Ideology	○		Brownlee, John S. Japanese Historians and the National Myths, 1600–1945. UBC Press, 1997, pp. 3–12. Ruoff, Kenneth. Imperial Japan at its Zenith: The Wartime Celebration of the Empire’s 2,600th Anniversary. Cornell University Press, 2010, pp. 1–26. Gauntlett, John Owen, trans. Kokutai No Hongi: Cardinal Principles of the National Entity of Japan. Harvard University Press, 1949, pp. 105–123.
13	The Kami in Pop Culture: Mythical Figures and Motifs in Manga, Anime, and Videogames	○		Hutchinson, Rachael. Japanese Culture Through Videogames. London, New York: Routledge, 2019, pp. 47–69. Hirafuji Kikuko. “Deities in Japanese Popular Culture,” Klaus Antoni and David Weiss, eds. Sources of Mythology: Ancient and Contemporary Myths. Lit, 2014, pp. 71–80.

Evaluation

Standpoint→ Evaluation Method ↓	G_A-1 [修士：人文学と現代文化の理解]	G_A-2 [修士：専修分野の知識と理解]	G_B-1-2a [修士：文献の読解力]	G_B-1-4 [修士：表現力]	Grading Percentage, Disqualification etc.
In-class contribution	◎	○		○	30%
Presentation	○	○	◎	○	30%
Report		○	◎	◎	40%

GPA Evaluation

A	B	C	D	F
授業を通じて、総じて「かなり優れている」に相当する活動を行った。	授業を通じて、概ね「優れている」を超える活動を行った。	授業を通じて、「及第する」に相当する活動を行った。	授業を通じて、総じて「及第する」には達しないものの、それに近い活動を行った。	授業を通じて、「一層の努力が必要」の活動にとどまった。

Additional Information regarding Evaluation Method :

Study Consultation (Office Hours)

Study Consultation (Office Hours) :

Suggestion for success (Specific) :

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