Publication details
Where Did the Principal Japanese Ama tsu Kami (“Celestial Deities”) Come From? ‒an Analysis of the Nihon Shoki with Ethnic and Etymological Japanese-Okinawan-Ainu Implications‒
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | The study is an attempt to address ethnogenesis in Japanese Isles via the textual analysis of all the entries in the Nihon Shoki concerning the route by which the chief Ama tsu kami (Celestial Deities) Susanoo and Ninigi “descended from the Skies” (Ama-kudari) to arrive in Japan and control the local populace. In combination with present-day geographical, archeological and linguistic data, the results are set against the linguistic theories pertaining to the origins of the Japanese language. The western route of Susanoo and Ninigi in the myths might be a reminiscence, engraved in historical memory, of a Tungusic (Altaic) immigration, while the south(-east)ern route of Ninigi given in majority of the entries might correspond to the Austro-Tai theory. The latter is, however, somewhat challenged by the results of archeological research in the Ryukyus, and volcanic data for the area around southern Kyushu. Semantic analysis of supposed cognacy between Japonic (Japanese, Okinawan), Ainu and farther languages, concerning such concepts as ‘deity’ (Jp kami), ‘bear’ (seminal for eastern macro-Altaic mythology; Jp kuma) or ‘Sun’ (possibly southern; Jp hi), attempts to exemplify concrete processes at work in the genesis of Japanese. Among other proposed processes are taboo, contamination via borrowings, as well as cultic/political interventions in language and in the wording of some of the Nihon Shoki entries. |