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Texts
This page gives an introduction of the extant texts in Japanese from the Old Japanese period, as well linking to digital versions of the texts. The online digital text version of the OCOJ contains
- Poetic texts;
- The poems from the Man'yōshū usually identified as Eastern Old Japanese (EOJ);
- The Norito and Senmyō.
Development of the OCOJ is very much work in progress. Please report any errors or mistakes you notice to: vsarpj@orinst.ox.ac.uk
This html version of the texts is derived by applying a display script (xslt) to the xml files the corpus consists of. The grammatical information encoded in the corpus is not displayed or accessible here. The main display conventions employed in this version of the corpus are summarized here. The texts can be searched by simple text string searches. If you use this online version of the corpus for research, please cite it as:Frellesvig, Bjarke; Horn, Stephen Wright; Russell, Kerri L; and Sells, Peter.
The Oxford Corpus of Old Japanese.
Please include the URL and use the retrieval date as the date of publication.
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| Kojiki kayō (古事記歌謡; 712) | (112 poems; 2527 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More information
The Kojiki (古事記 ‘Record of ancient matters’) is a history, compiled in 712. The preface is written in Chinese and the main text is written in hentai kanbun, but it also contains 112 phonographically written Japanese songs, as well as proper names and vocabulary.
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| Nihon shoki kayō (日本書紀歌謡; 720) | (133 poems; 2444 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Nihon shoki (日本書紀 ‘Chronicles of Japan’) is a history, compiled in 720. It is written in Chinese, but contains 128 songs, as well as proper names and vocabulary, written phonographically in Japanese.
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| Fudoki kayō (風土記歌謡; 730s) | (20 poems; 271 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fudoki (風土記 ‘Records of wind and earth’) are topographies compiled on the order given in 713 by the empress Genmei to the governors off the provinces to provide information about local products and produce, the fertility of the land, and folklore. Five fudoki have survived: Hitachi fudoki (常陸国風土記 (the north-eastern part of present-day Ibaraki prefecture), compiled between 714 and 718); Harima fudoki (播磨国風土記 (in Hyōgo prefecture), compiled around 715), Bungo fudoki, Hizen fudoki (豊後国風土記 (in Oita prefecture), (肥前国風土記 (in Saga and Nagasaki prefectures), compiled in the 730s, Izumo fudoki (出雲国風土記 (in Shimane prefecture), completed 733), which is the only fudoki to have survived in its entirety and which is written in hentai kanbun, whereas the rest are written in Chinese. They contain 20 phonographically written poems, place names, and local vocabulary.
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| Bussokuseki-ka (仏足石歌; after 753) | (21 poems; 337 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Bussukoseki-ka (仏足石歌 ‘Footprints of the Buddha poems’) is a series of 21 poems inscribed on a stone at the Yakusi-dera in Nara. The provenance is unknown, as is the date of inscription, but it is thought to date after 753. The poems are written entirely phonographically and are valuable because of their authenticity as a primary source.
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| Man'yōshū (万葉集; after 759) | (4685 poems; 83706 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Man'yōshū (万葉集 ‘Collection of myriad leaves’) is the major source of the OJ language. It is a poetry anthology of more than 4,500 poems in 20 volumes. It was compiled in late Nara or early Heian. The latest poem is dated 759 and the earliest poem is usually said to date back to the middle of the fifth century. The poems are in Japanese, written both phonographically and logographically. Most poems present a mixture of phonographic and logographic writing, but the proportions differ enormously. The poems in the anthology are drawn from several sources, both older and contemporary. It is thus not a single text, but a collection of texts from different times, and consequently there is no overall orthographic consistency. There is, however, a substantial, identifiable portion representing early eighth-century OJ and another representing mid eighth-century OJ. Eastern OJ dialect is also represented in volumes 14 (azuma uta ‘eastern songs’) and 20 (sakimori uta ‘border-guard songs’).
List of books
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| Shoku nihongi kayō (続日本紀歌謡; 797) | (8 poems; 134 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Shoku nihongi, or "The Continued Annals of Japan" and Shoku nihongi kayō,
"Songs of the Continued Annals of Japan" consists of chronicles of Japan from 697 to
791 CE. The text of the Shoku nihongi is written in kanbun and the poems are written in
phonetic script. The main compiler of the Shoku nihongi was Sugano no Mamichi, and it
was completed around 797 CE. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jōgū shōtoku hōō teisetsu (上宮聖徳法王帝説; unknown (early Heian?) | (4 poems; 60 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"A biography of Prince Shōtoku, King of Law", is
a biography of Prince Shōtoku written in the Heian period, but probably based on 7th
century sources. The text is written in kanbun but there are four poems,
probably from the Asuka period, and a number of proper nouns written with phonetic
spellings. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eastern Old Japanese | (240 poems; 3431 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Azuma-uta (東歌) | (174 poems; 2110 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sakimori-uta (防人歌) | (66 poems; 1321 words) |
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Norito and Senmyō | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Engishiki Norito (延喜式祝詞) | (approx. 6,500 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Norito (祝詞 ‘liturgies’) comprise ritual prayers and blessings. 27 Norito are recorded in volume 8 of the Engishiki (延喜式 ‘Procedures of the Engi Era’, completed 927) and are, despite the late date of compilation, thought to retain their OJ form and to reflect fairly accurately the OJ language and in particular some quite early features of the language. The Norito are written in senmyō-gaki.
List of Norito
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| Shoku nihongi Senmyō (続日本紀宣命; 797) | (approx. 14,000 words) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Senmyō (宣命) are imperial edicts. 62 edicts are recorded in the Shoku nihongi (続日本紀 797; a history covering 697-791). Senmyō are written in senmyō-gaki i.e. mainly logographically, but with grammatical items and some vocabulary noted phonographically.
List of Senmyō
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