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It is intended to give a clearer account of the ancient traditions than either of the original works on which it is based, by eliminating the Chinese order of characters, and substituting purely Japanese sentences. To these may be added the Tenso tojô Bemben (1767), a reply to two writers, one of whom had tried to prove that the capital of Amaterasu was at Nakatsu in Buzen, the other that it was in the province of Yamato, and the Ise Nigû Sakitake no ben, the objects of which are to refute the heretical notion that Amaterasu is not the sun, and to show that the deity of the Gékû, who is identified by some writers with Ame-no-mi-naka-nushi by others with Kuni-no-toko-tachi, is in reality Uke-mochi no kami, the goddess of food.
The Rekichô shôshi kai, in six volumes published two years after his death, is of great value to the student of ancient Japanese history. It contains an amended text of all the mikotonori, or Imperial messages, which ate recorded in the Shoku-Nihongi during the period which elapsed from the abdication of Jidô Tennô in 696, down to 791, the 10th year of Kuammu Tennô. These messages were delivered on various occasions, such as the recognition of the heir-apparent, the abdication of the Sovereign, the creation of an Empress, the punishment of criminals of rank, the outbreak of rebellions, the granting of lands to distinguished subjects, and several were pronounced in connection with the execution of a new kind of dance by the Princess who afterwards became Kôken Tennô. Another was composed for a thanksgiving service for the discovery of gold in Japan, celebrated in 749 at the temple of Tôdaiji in Nara, when the Empress Kôken was present with her whole court, and worshipped the great image commonly called Daibutsu. The style is in many cases pure Japanese, and these messages, together with the norito preserved in the Yengi shiki form the only native prose compositions which are of older date than the 8th century.
Like the other members of this pure Shintô School, Motoöri devoted a great deal of attention to the study of the
