The Emergence of Japanese Literature (Second Draft)

How did ritual words become literature? In this searching essay, Orikuchi Shinobu traces a path from the speech of gods and blessings for life and harvest to the songs, gestures, and narratives carried by traveling performers.

Court liturgies, ancient poems, village rites, and Okinawan practices illuminate the connections between sacred visitors, female mediums, divination, mimetic dance, and puppets. Orikuchi then asks how wandering performers disseminated epics and how inherited narratives were reshaped around named people and events, sometimes acquiring the appearance of history.

First published in three installments in 1924, The Emergence of Japanese Literature (Second Draft) presents an influential strand of Japanese folklore scholarship. This complete English translation preserves all three major divisions, fifteen numbered sections, and the physical lines of verse quotations. Detailed notes explain ritual terms, historical names, recovered Japanese readings, and the author’s uncertain or disputed claims. AI-assisted translation.