SOURCE: Wieslaw Kotański, "The Belief in Kotodama and Some Earlier Misinterpretations of Kojiki," in European Studies on Japan, edited by Ian Nish and Charles Dunn, Paul Norbury Publications, 1979, pp. 237-42.

[In the following essay, Kotański discusses the significance of proper names in the Kojiki, charging that earlier translators had neglected to pay them sufficient attention.']

While preparing the Polish translation of Kojiki, I have consulted some earlier European interpretations of that work, namely those of Chamberlain, Florenz and Philippi, and I have of course observed that they reveal no tendency to engage in translating the so-called proper names of the heroes of the Kojiki, or to include their contents in the course of the narrative. Such a tendency was certainly caused by their conviction that the contents of proper names, denoting natural and supernatural beings, in no way influences the narrative itself. The names contain, according to them, some information, e.g. about the functions of deities, but this seldom serves to enrich the narrative, and even more this is so with the names of human individuals. The said interpreters have tried only to elucidate the meaning of these names in footnotes or glossaries, considering their explanations as academic etymological studies. These attempts, containing in fact also many blanks and abortive attempts, have not led them to the conclusion that there is any necessity to treat the meaning of names in Kojiki in another way.

Now, however, the Polish translation of Kojiki will be quite different. It was found that all the names in Kojiki are rather a sort of substitute for proper names. Those substitutes can be in general divided into two groups, namely a set of some provisional denotations, mentioning mostly a title and residing place of the person, and a set of descriptive images, exposing some character features or some details from the lifetime of the given person. The first set may be regarded as of minor linguistic interest, being relatively easy to interpret, but the second of these sets proved to be a phenomenon, not only difficult to be linguistically analysed, but also entangled with the vital problems of the sociology of the old Japanese language. It is the reason why I have chosen it as my special object of study.

Let us first be concerned with sociological aspects of the question, because they have probably been the reason why up to now students of Kojiki could not grasp the peculiar character of these descriptive substitutes. It must above all be remembered that to use such descriptors instead of some real names, designating individuals without referring to their psychological or incidental characterization, must have had some concrete reason. It seems rather improbable that people in those times did not use personal names. We know even from the old literature many instances when the opportunity was taken of asking the name e.g. of a girl, as an equivalent of—say—a proposal to her. But the name used in the family circle, was mostly kept hidden from other people because to know the name of a being meant to grasp his soul and to be in a position to work through his name whatever one liked on his soul-substance. A name pronounced immediately conjures up the invisible spirit of the living or deceased person designated by that name. This was the basic principle of the belief in Kotodama, a kind of verbal taboo in ancient Japan, and a living custom in present day Japan too. In order not to evoke any unlucky consequences one must avoid using real names. They must be replaced by azana, i.e. 'misleading names' which are to avert any misfortunes, guilts and curses which might come to the person if one used some real name (tada-no-na). Resorting to epithets which refer to various characteristic features of individuals was equivalent to preventing any magic misuse of the real names of rulers and gods.

The earlier students of Kojiki did not really perceive that peculiar aspect of those epithets and this was their most flagrant misinterpretation of the work. As it is possible to prove that the majority of these epithets carry anticipatory meaning, i.e. the meaning relating the given person with some events which could occur only towards the end of their lifetime, so it follows that in reality they could not serve the person before that event occurred. In searching for some causes of this misapprehension we come across not only sociological matters but also various linguistic difficulties. It may be that in order to conceal a name better tabooed or its bearer, the courtiers and priests of old Japan, who preserved various narratives of ancient events, deformed the epithets handed down to them by earlier generations, or else they no longer understood the morphemic and semantic structure of those epithets and had introduced into them some 'corrections' according to their own knowledge of verbal rules. One way or the other the present researcher of those epithets has to surmount many obstacles and it is my task now to formulate some principles, leading to a more safe method of their interpretation.

First of all, word formation rules of Archaic Japanese are, as a matter of fact, sufficiently recognized, but interpreters of Kojiki too scantily make use of them. They are acquinted relatively well with various types of umlaut, e.g.

kami-kamu, tsuki-tsuku, ma-me, kaza-kaze, ko-ki, yomo-yomi, shira-shiro, yami-yomi, shiro-shiru, nonu, ata-atsu, kaga-kagu, se-so, kage-kago, kunikuna, shimu-sabu.

The exchange of consonants (omitting nigori) is of lesser importance and is often neglected by interpreters too. But more widespread and unfortunately not so much acknowledged are two other forms of transforming the composed word; we will call them provisionally bonding and overlapping. By bonding should be understood a transformation of the present form of a verb into a kind of bound form, serving mainly to generate compositions. There occur two such bound forms: one, ending in -a (e.g. kana from kanu, yama from yamu etc.) which appear in my conjectures about 70 times, the second one, ending in -o (e.g, odo from ozu, shiko from shiku etc.), which appear about 30 times.

In its turn overlapping is a kind of reduction, occuring between two catenated words, and appears in four varieties:

(a) Overlapping of vowels, e.g. mitsu from mi-itsu (pure and sacred), nagahi from naga-hi (long interval), totally about 90 cases.

(b) Overlapping of syllables, e.g. ehito from oi-hito (suiting man), sanagi from sana-nagi (appeasing of pudenda), totally about 30 cases.

(c) Informal overlapping of cognated syllables, e.g. subiko from sube-biko (ruling lad), altogether about 30 cases.

(d) Overlapping with different vowels, e.g. homuya from home-uya (glory and reverence), etc., altogether about 10 cases.

The semantics of the proper names under discussion present themselves far more dimly than their morphology. Some interpreters exhibit a lamentable tendency towards a stereotyped, monotonous and narrow-minded evaluation of morphemic meaning; they are not able to go beyond the limits of meaning assigned by a dictionary though it is notoriously certain that no dictionary can display all the shadows and intricacies of a word's meaning.

The most basic principles of an accurate semantic interpretation will be as follows:

—accordance of the contents of a composite name with the plot of the story or at least with structural features of the context

—ascertainment of a correct morphological and semantic interpretation of all constituents of the composition, in such a way that it will become a reasonable designation of the given person or deity in the target language.

Let us now give some more curious instances of convergence, kinship and multilateral function as reflected in the names of deities. These are examples of convergence:

IZANAGINÖKAMÏ and IZANAMINÖKAMÏ, analysed as i-sanenagi-no-kami, i-sane-nami-no-kami 'spirit appeasing the precious pudenda', 'spirit agitating the precious pudenda'—together the couple advocating the sexual act (traditionally: iza derived from izanu 'to invite', nagi and nami are respectively masculine and feminine endings).

KANAYAMABIKO and KANAYAMABIME—children of the sick Izanami born while she vomits, kane-yamu-hi-ko orme 'lad (or maiden) mighty to cause diseases of digestion' (trad.: 'metal mountain lad' or 'princess'—where is the connexion with vomiting?).

MITUPANÖME and WAKUMUSUBI—children of Izanami, born while she urinates, mi-tsu-hane-no-me, waku-masu-hi 'Female spurting water' and 'spirit bearing springs' (trad.: 'watergreens woman'; 'young or seething vital force'—evidently a deity of generation).

AMËNÖKOYANE and PUTOTAMA—together embrace the domain of divine service (literally: plaintive singing and sacrifices), ame-no-koyu-ne, futo-tamu 'heavenly mourner or sorrower' and 'donor of ample offerings' (trad.: 'heavenly little roof and 'solemn offerings presenter'—first interpretation out of place).

OPONAMUDI and SUKUNABIKONA—they together create and solidify the land, Ö-namu-chi, suku-nabi-ko-na 'great force establishing order' and 'manikin establishing quickly order' (trad.: 'great revered one' and 'little lad deity'—why have the two no custodial function, particularly no creative mission?).

Next we will discuss groups of cognate deities, who similarly show great proximity of the intercessory functions exercised.

SUGANÖYATUMIMI and YASIMAZINUMI—grandfather who has influence on the education of his grandson, suga-noya-tsu-imi-mi 'spirit of harmlessness of the house of Suga'; iya-ashi-maji/ηαύ'-no-mi 'spirit averting misfortune and evil' (trad.: 'Suga eight ears or rulers'; 'eight islands jinumi'—etymology not clear).

KÖNÖPANATIRUPIME and PUPANÖMÖDIKUNUSUNUKAMÏ—mother and her son. ko-no-hana-chiru-hi-me 'woman mighty to cause blossoms to fall'; fu-hane-omo-ozuko-no-su-no-kami 'spirit of nests on trees gravely careworn about denudation of the thicket' (trad.: 'blossoms of the trees falling princess'; the etymology of the second name not clear).

OKAMINÖKAMI,     PIKAPAPIME, PUKABUTINÖMIDUYAREPANANÖKAMÏ—randfather, mother and her son (his father is the 'spirit of nests … careworn about denudation of the thicket'), okamino-kami 'dragon deity'; hi-kae-hime 'the maiden changing into ice'; Fuka-muchi-no-mi-itsu-yarehana-no-kami 'deeply revered sacred and mighty spirit nipping flowers' (trad.: a dragon deity but etymology not clear; Hikawa Princess; 'deity sprinkle water on the flowers of Fukabuchi'—why Hikawa, why Fukabuchi?).

YASIMAMUDI, TÖRIMIMI, TÖRINIRUMI—grandfather, mother and her son. iya-ashi-imu-muji 'the noble undoing misfortunes and evils'; tori-mi-mi 'the spirit watching birds'; tori-naru-mi 'the spirit of learning from birds'. It is to be added that birds are carriers of misfortunes which should be carefully diagnosed (trad.: 'eight islands noble'; 'bird ear' or 'ruler of Tori'; 'bird sounding ocean', perhaps also combination of two place names Tori-Narumi, etymology not clear).

OKAMINOKAMI, PINARASIBIME, TAPIRIKISIMARUMI—grandfather, mother and her son. okami-no-kami 'dragon deity'; hi-narashi-hi-me 'the maiden mighty to tame the sun'; ta-hihi-iri-iki-shimaru-mi 'the spirit fettering alive with the affliction of hand trembling'—the affinity between the dragon, ruler of tempests and rainfalls with 'taming of the sun' and with producing of rheumatic diseases is quite clear (trad.: 'dragon deity' but the etymology of the other two names is unclear).

Many deities bear two, three or more names which in various aspects mutually complement their meanings.

ASINADAKANÖKAMI also named YAGAPAYEPIME—ashi-no-take-no-kami 'the spirit of the growth of reeds'; yakae-hae-hi-me 'the maiden causing luxuriant regeneration and vegetation' (trad.: 'reed nadaka deity': 'yakawa elder sibling princess' or 'many river inlets princess' or 'ever more flourishing princess').

KAMUATATUPIME also Called KÖNÖPANANÖSAKIYABIME (or sakuyabime)—kamu-ata-atsu-hime 'the maiden subjecting to the divine heat'; ko-no-hana-no-saki-kie-hime 'the maiden causing blooming and withering of tree flowers' (trad.: 'divine Ata princess'; 'blossom of the trees blooming princess'—why should Ata princess be maiden of blooming?).

Among several categories of the deities' names the most interesting one is perhaps that which derives its occurrence from the circumstances of the birth of the deity or from happenings during his lifetime which are adduced in the text.

OPOKÖTÖOSIWO—the first deity born by the demiurges after they had finished bearing the land, o-koto-oshi-o 'the male forcing great undertakings'—apparently bound to support his parents in their doings (trad.: great male of the great undertaking).

KUMANOKUSUBI—who came into existence as the last offspring, testing the loyalty of the Raging Male who visits his sister, kumu-no-kusu-hi 'wondrous power of reconciliation' (trad.: 'wondrous Kumano deity').

INABANÖYAGAMIPIME—whom eighty deities wished to marry. Slight standard modification of reading mi as mu. inaba-no-iya-agamu-hime, 'extremely adored maiden from Inaba' (trad.: princess of Yagami in Inaba).

TAKEMINAKATANÖKAMI—who displays his strength and tries to test strength with heavenly deities, take-minakatsu-no-kami, 'valiant spirit conquering everyone' (trad.: 'valiant Minakata deity' where Minakata related to Munakata—but without argumentation).

AMENÖZUME—who can face and overwhelm others, ameno-ozo-me, 'heavenly clever woman' (trad.: 'heavenly formidable woman' or etymology not clear).

ITUSE—elder brother of the first emperor who serves the Sun Offspring in many batties, itsu-se 'a prodigious companion' (trad.: five rapids).

INAPINÖMIKÖTÖ—who entered the ocean, inai-no-mikoto 'the Lords which departed' (trad.: 'rice food lord').

Anticipatory types of names whose contents precede the events described therein and which occur from time to time among deities' names are far more frequent amongst the names of inhabitants of the earth.

TÖMINÖNAGASUMEBIKO#x2014;who opposed the entrance of the emperor into Yamato and killed the brother of the emperor, tomi-no-nagasu-nebi-hiko 'a cutting down mature lad from Tomi' (trad.: 'lad of Nagasune' or 'long shank lad').

TAGISIMIMI—who plots against his younger brothers in order to rule the kingdom, ta-kishimi-mi 'the spirit robbing hand' (trad.: 'Tagishi ruler').

KAMUYAWIMIMI—who ceded his birthright to his younger brother and served as a priest, kamu-ya-i-mi-mi 'venerable spirit staying in the house of god' (trad.: 'divine yai ruler').

SAPADIPIME—the empress who plots against her husband, flees from him and finally dies with her rebel brother. sawa-haji-hime 'the maiden greatly disgraced' (trad.: etymology not clear).

OPOTATANEKO—who worships in order to avert the divine wrath that the land be at ease, o-tatane-ko 'great man to rectify' (trad.: great tata ruler).

KUGAMIMINÖMIKASA—a rebel chieftain of Tamba. kugami-mino-mikasa 'guardian (literally: straw-coat and hood) of lands and waters' (trad.: 'mikasa lord of Kuga').

KARABUKURÖ—an attendant who provoked the hunt during which a prince was killed and whose children were charged with care of the tomb of the slain prince. karu-fuku-uro(uro) 'worried to fan the hunt' (trad.: 'Korean bag' or 'Fukuro in Kara').

WODÖPIME—a maiden who seeing the approach of the emperor fled and hid on a hill, o-ozu-hime 'the maiden fearing men' (trad.: etymology not clear).

ARAKAPI—an ömuraji who was dispatched to kill a rebel. ara-akai 'returning the apostasy (or rebellion)' (trad.: etymology not clear or—according to Matsuoka—'visible deity' or 'god in human form'?). Designations of most rulers are difficult to analyse and to translate because they are artificially composed.

MIMATUPIKOKAWESINE—mi-imu-tsu-hiko ha-e-ushi-ne 'the sacrosanct off-spring of the sunbeamy smiling lord' (trad.: 'lord of the imperial lands—the rest is etymologically dubious').

WAKAYAMATÖNEKOPIKOOPOBIBI—waka-yamato-ne-ikoihiko o-hibiki 'young lad under whom Yamato enjoyed leisure ringing with great fame' (trad.: 'young root child lad great ruler').

Among the names probably referring to the circumstances our attention is drawn by a fairly large group which indicates a particular popularity of designations connected with the life of villages and with farming.

TADIMAMORÖSUKU—tajima-moru-suku 'one fond of riddling from Tajima' (trad.: etymology not clear).

TADIMAPIME—tajima-hi-πο 'sifter from Tajima' (trad.: etymology not clear).

KIYOPIKO—certainly reading should be corrected into equivalent sayapiko: saya-hihiko 'lad riddling noisily' (trad.: 'pure lad').

SUGANÖMÖRÖWO (perhaps Sugasimorowo)—Sugashimoru-o 'The man riddling clean' (trad.: 'Suga male' or etymology not clear).

I have analysed—on the occasion of preparing the Polish translation of Kojiki—all the designations of spirits and men quoted in that work. In this paper I can present only a small part of them. It is sure that not all the propositions of mine are sufficiently proved; some items must perhaps be reconsidered in order to seek other conclusions. But in general, the principles of analysis accepted by the author, seem to be rather promising, because they allow the replacement of many empty, unclear and unintelligible conjectures of earlier students.

Although the results presented in the paper, seem to be a critical revision of previous achievements, there is no doubt, that without predecessors whose works were very instructive and of great avail as a basis for criticism, there would be no present stage of studies, because the author who can see a way already paved is able to walk along it or to diverge from it. Previous pioneers could in their times walk only blindly and therefore they went often astray. Let then the author regard himself only as one who continues work which others, in more difficult conditions, have daringly begun.