“ But what is far more misleading than these naive inventions is the confirmed habit common to the writers both of the Kojiki and of the Nihongi, though the latter are the greater offenders, of throwing back, no doubt more or less unconsciously, to more ancient times the ideas of their own age, when the national thought and institutions had become deeply modified by Chinese influences. ”

“ But the Corean national genius seems to have left no impress of its own on the civilization which it received from China and handed on to Japan. Medicine, Buddhism, painting, and the mechanic arts were transmitted, as far as we can see, without modification, and there is little trace of any special Corean character in the knowledge of Chinese literature and science which Coreans communicated to Japan. ”

“ The defects of the Nihongi are due partly to the uncritical spirit of the age when it was written, but mainly to the circumstance that the authors were accomplished scholars deeply imbued with ideas derived from the classical and historical literature of ancient China. With exceptions to be noticed presently, the work is composed in the Chinese language. This is in itself an obstacle to the faithful representation of things Japanese. But unfortunately it is not all. Chinese ideas and traits of Chinese manners and customs are frequently brought in where they have no business. ”

“ Writing.—The art of writing is one of the numerous elements of civilization for which Japan is indebted to China. The date of its first introduction is not definitely known. There are indications that some acquaintance with the Chinese written character was possessed by individuals in Japan during the early centuries of the Christian era, but the first positive information on the subject belongs to A.D. 405, for which an erroneous date corresponding to A.D. 285 is given in the Nihongi. In this year a Corean named Wani or Wangin was appointed tutor in Chinese to a Japanese Imperial Prince. ”

“ The newer relations, partly developed from native material, partly influenced by Chinese culture, are reflected back upon the oldest without due distinction, and the result is a confused picture in which the critical inquirer can, it is true, frequently separate what is original from subsequent additions, but must often let fall his hands in despair. ”

“ Florenz very justly remarks, "The little which European inquiry has hitherto been able to teach us of the real condition of Japan in the most ancient times shows that the historical representation of this period in the Kojiki and Nihongi (upon which rest all the later statements of the Japanese) is most profoundly penetrated by false principles. ”

“ Then we have a series of legendary stories full of miraculous incidents, but in which grains of truth may here and there be discerned. The value of this early part of the work is enhanced by the numerous poems of great antiquity which have been incorporated into it, and which have considerable antiquarian and philological interest. ”