The Kojiki, ‘The Records of Ancient Matters’, is a volume composed at some point in the late seventh century which recounts Japan’s mythological beginnings and the history of the Imperial line.

The songs in the volume are of various types: narratives, often concerning deities’ exploits, love songs, war songs, humorous songs and a number of others concerning the everyday lives of the Japanese at the time. In the Kojiki, songs which are undoubtedly part of an earlier oral tradition are often tied in to particular contexts and associated with emperors or other nobles, this being a method of giving status to material which might otherwise have been regarded as commonplace.

The following poems from Kojiki are on WakaPoetry.net: