Thank you for visiting. This article is the fifth installment (the finale) in a series explaining the original texts of Japanese mythology.
So far we have looked at the two great original texts, the Kojiki (Articles 1–3) and the Nihon Shoki (Article 4). In this finale, I explain the Fudoki, the original text that conveys myths not found in the Kiki, and other classics that supplement the Kiki.
For an overview map of Japanese mythology’s original texts as a whole, please see this summary article.
What Are the Fudoki — Gazetteers Compiled by Province
The Fudoki are gazetteers (regional records) compiled by each province (region) across the country, by the command of Empress Genmei in AD 713 (Wadō 6). Whereas the Kiki are original texts that tell the “history and myth of the nation,” the Fudoki are original texts that record “the actual conditions of the regions and the traditions handed down in those lands.”
The court commanded each province to report on the following.
- Assigning auspicious characters (kōji) to the names of districts and villages
- The products of the land
- The fertility of the land
- The origin of the names of mountains, rivers, fields, and plains
- Old traditions handed down by the elders (kyūbun iji)
Within this last item, “the traditions handed down by the elders,” were written down many stories of local gods and myths that became the origins of place names, which were not included in the Kiki. Herein lies the value of the Fudoki as a mythological original text.
The first command, “assign auspicious characters (kōji) to the names of districts and villages,” sought to have place names written in auspicious two-character kanji, and it became the basis of Japanese place-name notation that continues to this day. The Fudoki are at once a treasury of myth and a first-rate geographical source conveying the place names, products, and topography of antiquity. If the Kiki tell “myth seen from the center (the court),” the Fudoki are original texts conveying “myth seen from the side of the regions.”
The Nihon Shoki: Full Modern Translation + Commentary, Vol. 1, Age of GodsView on Amazon →
The Easiest-to-Understand Japanese MythologyView on Amazon →
The Surviving Fudoki
The Fudoki were originally compiled in every province, but most have been lost. Today, the contents survive in coherent form for only five provinces.
| Fudoki | State |
|---|---|
| Izumo no Kuni Fudoki | The only Fudoki surviving in nearly complete form |
| Harima no Kuni Fudoki | Largely survives, though missing parts |
| Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki | Partly survives |
| Bungo / Hizen no Kuni Fudoki | Survive in abridged (summary) form |
Besides these, fragments remaining as quotations in other books are called “Fudoki itsubun (lost fragments).” Among them, the Izumo no Kuni Fudoki, the only one surviving nearly complete, is an extremely precious original text conveying the myths unique to the Izumo region.
This Izumo no Kuni Fudoki was completed in AD 733 (Tenpyō 5), 20 years after the official command, and at its end it even specifies that Izumo no Omi Hiroshima, who was the Izumo no Kuni-no-miyatsuko (provincial governor), was the responsible party, and Kanyake no Omi Kanatari undertook the editing. It is a precious original text without parallel in that we know who compiled it and when. That the gods of Izumo, who tend to be relegated to supporting roles in the Kiki, are depicted here as splendid protagonists is also a feature unique to a Fudoki compiled by local hands.
The Izumo Fudoki’s “Land-Pulling Myth”
The most famous myth the Izumo no Kuni Fudoki conveys is the magnificent “land-pulling myth (kunibiki).” This is a myth unique to the Fudoki, not recorded at all in the Kiki.
The god who made the land of Izumo, “Yatsukamizu-omitsuno-no-mikoto,” seeing that the land of Izumo was small and narrow, said: “The first-made land was made small. So let me stitch on more and make it larger.”
And the god searched for the “surplus parts” of lands across the sea and, it is told, drew them in by rope from four lands and stitched them onto Izumo. The original text records those four “land-pullings” concretely.
| Land pulled | Place stitched on |
|---|---|
| The cape of Shiragi (Silla) | The cape of Kizuki |
| The land of Saki at Kitado | The land of Sada |
| The land of Yonami at Kitado | The land of Kurami |
| The cape of Tsutsu at Koshi | The cape of Miho |
The god, casting thick ropes onto the lands, hauled in the surplus lands of the opposite shores little by little, powerfully chanting “Kuni ko, kuni ko (Land, come!).” The lands thus drawn in are said to have become the present-day Shimane Peninsula. The stakes the god, having finished pulling, set up by casting ropes were the sacred peaks of Mount Sahime (Mount Sanbe) in the west and Hino-kamidake (Mount Daisen) in the east, and the very ropes that bound the lands became, it is explained, two sandbars, the Long Beach of Sono and Yomi Island (Yumigahama).
This generous, large-scale creation myth — pulling the land itself in from across the sea — can be said to reflect the Izumo people’s pride in their homeland. Recorded in this original text is another “beginning of the land” story, entirely different from the Kiki’s birth of the land (Izanagi and Izanami). Moreover, the Mount Sanbe, Mount Daisen, and Yumigahama spoken of here are all real topographical features, and the myth explains the origin of the very scenery before one’s eyes — the narrative manner unique to the Fudoki appears well here.
The Myths Conveyed by Various Provinces’ Fudoki
The Fudoki other than Izumo also retain flavorful traditions not found in the Kiki.
The Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki has a myth concerning Mount Fuji and Mount Tsukuba. A traveling god first asks the god of Fuji for lodging, but is refused because it is a period of ritual abstinence. Next visiting the god of Tsukuba, the god is graciously hosted. So the god ordained that the Fuji mountain that refused would have snow falling year-round so people cannot climb it, and that the Tsukuba mountain that hosted would have people gathering, singing, and flourishing — an origin tale teaching the importance of a hospitable heart.
The same book also records the tale of the “Yatonokami,” a serpent god with horns on its head. A human trying to newly cultivate a valley and the Yatonokami, who had dwelt in that land from the start, come into conflict, and the human sets up a boundary marker and decides, “From here up is the god’s land, from here down the people’s fields” — an extremely old myth telling the reconciliation of cultivation (humans) and the nature gods. The same book also vividly depicts the tradition of the hero Yamato Takeru touring various regions, and scenes of the “utagaki,” in which young men and women exchange songs.
The Harima no Kuni Fudoki shows many traditions of “land-claiming (kunime),” in which gods, beginning with Ōnamuchi (Okuninushi), compete over land. Especially famous is the tale in which the two gods Ōnamuchi and Sukunahikona competed over “which can win — carrying heavy clay soil far, or holding in one’s bowels and walking far.” In the end Ōnamuchi laughed and let out his bowels, and Sukunahikona too threw down his load — an origin tale for the place named “Hajika,” striking in its familiar, generous depiction of the gods. The way the gods cause events that become the origins of place names across the land conveys a simple mythic world rooted in the land, different from the orderly myth of the Kiki.
The Bungo and Hizen no Kuni Fudoki survive only in abridged (summary) form, but even so they convey origin tales for place names unique to Kyushu, such as Emperor Keikō’s tour of Kyushu and the tradition of subjugating the “tsuchigumo (earth-spiders),” referring to the native people who would not submit to the court. For instance, the place name “Hayami” derives from the name of a female chieftain who welcomed the touring emperor — each and every place name is tied to a story.
The Famous Stories Conveyed by the Fudoki Fragments
Even for the Fudoki of provinces whose text is wholly lost, unforgettable stories survive as “itsubun (lost fragments)” quoted in later books. Especially famous are two tales recorded in the fragments of the Tango no Kuni Fudoki.
One is the story of “Urashimako (the prototype of Urashima Tarō).” The fisherman Ura-no-Shimako of Mizunoe in Tango catches a five-colored turtle that transforms into a beautiful woman, and together they cross to “Mount Hōrai (the eternal land)” beneath the sea and spend three years. When he eventually returns home, 300 years have already passed, and breaking the promise to open a jeweled box, he ages in an instant — one of the oldest other-world-visit tales leading to the present-day Urashima Tarō.
The other is the story of the heavenly maiden of the “Nagu shrine” — that is, the “feather-robe (hagoromo) legend.” Of eight heavenly maidens bathing, one has her feather robe hidden by an old couple and cannot return to heaven; living with the couple, she brings prosperity, but is eventually driven out, and after wandering many lands is enshrined as the god of a certain shrine. These are precious traditions unique to the Fudoki that, though not in the Kiki, became the source of later Japanese folktales.
Other Original Texts That Supplement the Kiki
The original texts conveying Japanese mythology are not only the Kiki and the Fudoki. There are also several classics that supplement them.
| Original text | Character |
|---|---|
| Sendai Kuji Hongi | Contains much of the Mononobe clan’s tradition. Conveys myths such as Nigihayahi |
| Kogo Shūi | Written by Inbe no Hironari to supplement the Kiki’s gaps from the standpoint of the Inbe clan |
| Man’yōshū | A poetry anthology, but containing poems on myths and gods |
| Norito | Sacred words chanted in rites. Convey an old mythic worldview |
For example, the Sendai Kuji Hongi conveys in detail traditions set aside in the Kiki, such as the story of the god “Nigihayahi,” said to have descended at the command of Amaterasu. And the Kogo Shūi is an original text that sought to supplement traditions omitted from the Kiki from the standpoint of the Inbe clan, which handled ritual, and is a clue to knowing how a particular clan handed down myth.
These original texts teach us that Japanese mythology was not only the court’s official history (the Kiki) but an aggregate of various traditions of each region and clan.
To Learn More
Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.
An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to the Gods of JapanView on Amazon →
A Handbook of Japanese Myths and GodsView on Amazon →
Conclusion
In this article, I explained in detail the original text that supplements the Kiki, the Fudoki, and other classics, true to the original texts themselves. How was it?
The Fudoki are gazetteers compiled by each province by official command in AD 713, conveying local myths not found in the Kiki. In particular, the “land-pulling myth” of the only complete copy, the Izumo no Kuni Fudoki, was a precious original text telling a grand creation different from the Kiki. Further, the Sendai Kuji Hongi and Kogo Shūi are also important as original texts that supplement the Kiki.
With this, the five-article series on Japanese mythology’s original texts is complete. I hope that by reading the original texts of differing character — the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, and Fudoki — each in its own terms, the true form of Japanese mythology has come into view.
I also explain the original texts of other myths and religions. For the full list, see the complete index of the world’s myths and religions.
For the strength of the gods and heroes of Japanese mythology, please use this ranking article as a reference too.
I hope you’ll read the next article too.
📚 Series: The Original Texts of Japanese Mythology (6/6)
