Ritual poetry and the politics of death in early japan / Gary L. Ebersole.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ebersole, Gary L., 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese poetry--To 794--History and criticism.

Japanese poetry.

Death--Political aspects--Japan.

Death.

Funeral rites and ceremonies--Japan.

Funeral rites and ceremonies.

Mythology, Japanese.

Japan--Court and courtiers.

Japan.

Japan--Politics and government--To 794.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (354 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersrey : Princeton University Press, [1989]

Summary:

This examination of death rituals in early Japan finds in the practice of double burial a key to understanding the Taika Era (645-710 A.D.). Drawing on narratives and poems from the earliest Japanese texts--the Kojiki, the Nihonshoki, and the Man'yoshu, an anthology of poetry--it argues that double burial was the center of a manipulation of myth and ritual for specific ideological and factional purposes. "This volume has significantly raised the standard of scholarship on early Japanese and Man'yoshu studies."--Joseph Kitagawa "So convincing is the historical and religious thought displayed here, it is impossible to imagine how anyone can ever again read these documents in the old way."--Alan L. Miller, The Journal of Religion "A central resource for historians of early Japan."--David L. Barnhill, History of Religions

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Notes on Transliteration and Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION Mythistory, Ritual, and Poetry in Early Japan

CHAPTER ONE Ritual Poetry in the Court

CHAPTER TWO The Mythology of Death and the Niiname-sai

CHAPTER THREE The Liminal Period of Temporary t-nshrinement

CHAPTER HOUR The Poetry of the Mogari no Miya

CHAPTER FIVE Mythistory, Rhetoric, and the Politics of Marriage

CONCLUSION Imagining History

Glossary of Japanese Terms

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Man'yoshu Poems Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [319]-331).

ISBN:

9780691019291

0691019290

OCLC:

1273307502