The following is from the serial column of Yoshiko Sakurai, who brings this week's issue of weekly Shincho to a successful conclusion.
This paper also proves that she is a national treasure as defined by Saicho.
It is a must-read not only for the people of Japan but also for people worldwide.
New Year's Reading: "The Emperor's National History
The winter solstice has passed, and the New Year is approaching.
What kind of a new year it will depend on us, the Japanese people.
The turmoil in world affairs is tormenting every country.
Japan is not the only country to be under the thumb of the Wuhan virus.
On the other hand, China, the country that spread the virus, seems to have benefited the most from its quick economic recovery.
However, they have been exposed by the international community in the wake of the Wuhan virus.
Taking advantage of the world turmoil, they pretend that China is good medical power, but on the other hand, they oppress, control, and silence Hong Kong people and Uyghurs.
The virus has revealed their ugly lies one after another.
And there are no more friends of China in the major countries of the international community.
China's friends in the international community are gone.
The net of heaven is vast and seemingly coarse, but it will not let evildoers slip through the net. If you do evil, you will be caught and punished by the heavens.
In 2021, the standoff between the United States and China is likely to become more severe than ever.
China is sure to use Sun Tzu's Art of War and develop new tactics, one after another, based on its grand strategy to become the world's dominant power.
Japan must prevent China's offensive and show the United States, both mentally and physically, that an alliance with Japan would much value the United States.
To this end, Japan must show its true colors.
Japan has nurtured a peaceful civilization for thousands of years.
It has practiced the philosophies of equality of all peoples in the natural world since time immemorial.
At the center of this has been the Emperor.
If you understand the Emperor's existence, it is better to recall the Kyoto Imperial Palace rather than the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
After the bloodless siege of Edo Castle in the Meiji Restoration, Emperor Meiji moved to Tokyo, but before that, he was in the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
Unlike the Edo Castle, the Kyoto Imperial Palace did not have a moat to protect it from enemy attacks.
Instead of sturdy walls, there were only walls made of cylindrical mud.
Thieves could break-in at any time if they wanted to.
But in the long history of Japan, such a lawless thing has never happened.
A country like this must be scarce in the world.
This gentle relationship between the Emperor and the people maybe because the Emperor has always prayed for the people and the nation, and the people have also had respect for the Emperor and the imperial family.
A Heart for Happiness
Tsuneyasu Takeda's "The Emperor's National History" (PHP) is an excellent summary, drawing on many examples, of the fact that Japanese history is a history of the Emperor and the people working together.
I know that many of you are thinking of spending your New Year's vacations quietly reading at Wuhan Virus, but I would like to recommend you to read this massive 668-page book, "The Emperor's National History.
Mr. Takeda begins his characterization of Japan with the great mystery of how the universe's vastness came to be.
In monotheistic Christianity, the story of creation begins with the statement, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
In other words, the great God created the universe.
In contrast, the Kojiki, which describes the origin of the Japanese nation, says that space existed first, and then the gods appeared.
By contrast, the Kojiki, which describes the origin of the Japanese nation, says that there was space first, and then the gods appeared.
In the Christian worldview, the strong, noble, righteous, and good is the omniscient and omnipotent God, and by obeying Him, human beings are guided and saved.
Therefore, the order of precedence is "God → man → nature.
On the other hand, in the Kojiki, God is sometimes wrong, sometimes troubled, and sometimes seeks advice from other gods.
He is the opposite of the absolutely righteous and wise being of monotheistic religions; he is rather a humanistic god.
Therefore, according to Mr. Takeda, the worldview that forms the basis of the Kojiki, or Japanese civilization, is in the order of "nature → god → man.
I have no intention of saying which is right, but I feel that the Kojiki, or the Japanese worldview, is more reasonable because it is a correct providence that the source of life and people in nature.
It can say that the worldview of Kojiki depicts the root of Japanese spirituality.
With this in mind, it would have been natural for the Japanese to find gods in mountains, forests, large rocks, the sea, and even every tree and grass.
The sensibility to feel nature as the place where the gods dwell is from the primitive era of this country to the beginning of the country's formation.
Mr. Takeda points out that in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan), ruling a country on earth is described as "letting it be known" or "letting it be ruled.
He then explains that the Emperor's ruling of the country is synonymous with the Emperor's knowledge of its affairs.
It is the essence of the Japanese nation.
It is not about control, but about knowing.
Knowing the subject leads to understanding, empathy, and affection.
It leads to a heart that wishes for the happiness of the person.
It is the Emperor's prayer.
The appearance of successive emperors always praying for the people and nations reflects the fact that "Japan is a country known to the emperor" drawn by Kojiki.
The True History of Our Predecessors
Another point that made me happy as I read the book was the suggestion that the ancient history I was taught in junior high school, Japan was far behind the world's four significant civilizations, was utterly wrong.
Mr. Takeda explained the history of stone tools from the Iwayado site excavated by amateur researcher Tadahiro Aizawa and revealed the Japanese people's remarkable footprints.
The first tool used by humankind was a stone tool.
Among the stone tools, polished stone tools are those that were not merely smashed but also processed.
The existence of polished stone tools is one of the conditions for establishing civilization, and the world's oldest polished stone tools have been found in the Japanese archipelago.
It found the polished stone tools at the Iwayado site to be 35,000 years old.
Since then, many more stone tools dating back to 38,000 years ago have been discovered in Nagano, Kumamoto, and Iwate prefectures.
On the other hand, the world began to use polished stone tools 10,000 years ago, which means that the Japanese archipelago culture was 28,000 years ahead of the rest of the world.
Among neighboring countries, China's oldest polished stone tools are 15,000 years old, and the Korean Peninsula is 7,000 years old.
So, the question naturally arises.
In ancient times, civilization did not come from China to Japan, but from Japan to China and the Korean Peninsula.
Science is continually advancing, and it is not unusual for ancient history to be re-dated by new scientific findings.
I look forward to the day our ancestors' real history who lived in the Japanese archipelago will be uncovered, and Japan will be revealed as a truly great country.
In his book "The National History of Emperors," Mr. Takeda has fully depicted Japan's history from the first Emperor Jinmu to the Reigning Emperor of 2020.
There are the unexpected appearance of Nobunaga Oda and the decisions of Emperors Meiji and Showa.
There are many heart-wrenching scenes.
Re-examining Japan's history with the emperor at the center will lead to the process of scooping up the essence of Japanese civilization from various historical events, understanding it, and letting it sink into our hearts.
I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did.
