The oldest written stage of the Japanese language forms the subject of John Bentley's important new volume. The underlying texts (also presented here) are those of the religious liturgies (norito) and imperial edicts (A.D. 685). Part one deals with the liturgies, the writing system, texts, and phonology and the dating problem. The main chapters of the book are a description of nominals, verbs, verbal suffixes, auxiliary verbs, particles, and conjunctions. A chapter on the lexicon, detailing many hapax legomena and interesting words, makes this into a major reference work on early...

This reexamination of Sendai kuji hongi (Kujiki) convincingly leads the reader to new conclusions on its place within the history and historiography of early Japan. While the Sendai kuji hongi is generally considered as simply derivative, drawing on Kojiki, Nihon shoki, and Kogo shūi, John Bentley's careful textual analysis demonstrates that the work has actually drawn from drafts of Kojiki and Nihon shoki, but not Kogo shūi, which has quoted from Kujiki. Thus the work can not be seen as a product of the early Heian era,...

This is a partial translation of one of the most important texts produced by Motoori Norinaga. It covers a wide range of Norinaga's thought and provides a lens onto his philological methodology, as well as how he viewed literature, poetry, history, linguistics, and Shinto.