超古代史って何?

日本超古代史研究所

What is Parahistory?

Japanese Parahistory Research

超歴史 / Chourekishi

In Japan the word for "history", 歴史 rekishi, is sometimes combined with the prefix 超 chou to form the word 超歴史 chourekishi. For example, TV Tokyo has a special called "Chourekishi Mystery Roman" about medieval Japanese history. Most people would be tempted to translate the 超 as "very" or "super", based on colloquial usage. Also, this is the only translation given in most dictionaries. However, a more meaningful translation can be understood by analyzing the parallel form 超心理学 choushinrigaku, "parapsychology". Here, the 超 was added to "psychology", like the Greek prefix "para-".

The meaning of chourekishi is therefore something like "parahistory". This does not mean ideologically warped history, but exploring the unknown. It is born out of the fascinating mystery of things that are alluded to in recorded history, but can never be fully understood. In the United States, the History Channel frequently airs shows about parahistory, even though for some reason that term has never been explicitly used. The book Chariots of the Gods? also caused a stir in the United States years ago. These shows and books are usually considered pointless, unlikely speculation, designed to catch the interest of the public with intrigue about UFOs or hidden conspiracies. In Japan, I believe, this current of paranormal research is much more widely recognized and has been given a name, because of the important role that parahistory once played in the formation of the Japanese state.

超古代史 / Choukodaishi

超古代史 choukodaishi, the subject of this website, is literally "para-ancient history". For simplicity's sake, I will also refer to it as parahistory on this website. Ancient history is the building material of Shinto. It is often assumed that Shinto shrines have no governance whatsoever, because they are all independently run and do not have any sort of organized belief system. However, shrines are actually based on two important tenets. The first is that shrines are not built randomly; their importance stems from the role they played in history, and many of those existing today were named and listed in a 10th century document, the Engishiki. The second is that the figures enshrined must be linked to an historical document, if not a strong historical tradition. Up until the 19th century, there was an official history, an 8th century text called the Nihon Shoki which dictated who the historical figures were in the shrines and what roles they played in Japanese society. The Nihon Shoki mixed folklore and mythology into its history, but it was officially endorsed and thus provided a basic authority on which the claims of shrines and individuals were based. In the 19th century, this was replaced by the Kojiki, a similar document; in 1945, the Shinto Directive was issued by American occupying forces, and the promotion of these documents as official was pretty much banned.

Up until relatively recently, therefore, all schoolchildren in Japan were taught the legends of ancient emperors and other noble people (神 kami) in their history textbooks. The forced removal of this (para)history from schools created an interesting situation. This was not religiously meaningful material, so parents would not teach it to their children outside of school. But it did constitute a central part of Japanese folklore, around which shrines were built and maintained, and stories were told. Looking at the stories objectively, people had to admit that the existence of Emperor Jimmu and his issue was beyond the reach of scientific study. But if the textbooks had been wrong, then where did Japan come from? Was the origin of the Japanese people and the state really beyond human understanding?

Thus, parahistory (i.e. 超古代史 choukodaishi) took on new importance. In 1949, the Katakamuna documents were made public; by the 1960s, the Hotsuma Tsutae was rediscovered. The images presented in parahistorical documents and treatises provide tantalizing glimpses of an alternate ancient Japan. They tell of a people that expressed themselves through poetry and song, and perhaps possessed a certain nobility of the heart, as the history textbooks had once assured. Even if the documents themselves are false, I believe that they reflect important currents of belief in Japanese culture, in ways that cumbersome words like "religion" do not.

Don't you just dote on the Japanese? They're so esoteric—and subtle and all that sort of thing, aren't they?
Just look at Buddhism and Shintoism, for instance. Could anything be more subtle and esoteric?
We've been taking them up—our Little Group of Serious Thinkers, you know—and they're wonderful, simply wonderful!
Not, of course, that one would be a Buddhist or a Shintoist—but it's broadening to the mind, don't you think, to come into contact with the great thought of—of—well, really of people like Shinto, you know, and those other sages?
—Don Marquis, Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers (1923)