1. Daniel C. Holtom refrains from using the word "coronation" since there is no act of crowning in the Japanese ceremony. He searches for proper definitions for the various ceremonies under investigation. Because the sovereign mounts a throne when he announces the fact of his accession, Holtom prefers to use "enthronement" for the Japanese case, with which I heartily agree. He defines the sokui-rei as "the throne ascending ceremony," which I find too cumbersome to use. He renders the Daijôsai as the "great new food festival," while Helen and William McCullough refer to the same ceremony as the "great thanksgiving service" (Holtom 46-48; McCullough and McCullough 1980 I:375-78). Holtom’s "Great new food service" seems too much like the usual definition of Niinamesai, "first fruits festival" by the McCulloughs. On the other hand, Ellwood does not grope for definitions, translating the Daijôsai as "the major accession ceremony," without distinguishing the civil ceremony, the sokui-rei which he also renders " accession ceremony." I prefer the enthronement ceremony for the Daijôsai, the first fruits festival for the Niinamesai, and the accession ceremony for the sokui-rei, but in most cases, I use the original terms to avoid confusion.

2. Although archaic Japan did not observe the new year as an occasion separate from the harvest and spring festival, these two blended together as celebrations of harvest and renewal (Ellwood, 55).

3. The Daijôsai has no parallel in Chinese sources even though much of the Shintô sections of the Japanese Code were copied almost verbatim from originals in Chinese. Much can be learned about indigenous Shintô ritual by studying the Daijôsai ceremony.

4. For a full discussion of the Tenmu-Jitô period Shintô revival movement, see Ellwood, p. 88-95. Ellwood states that though the two ceremonies separated around the time of Tenmu and Jitô’s reigns, it was not until the Meiji period (1868-1912) that the two terms correlating to the two rites came to be widely used (90). On the other hand, Holtom cites the reign of Seiwa Tennô (r. 858-76) as the time during which a distinction was made between the terms Ohonihe matsuri (Daijô-sai) and Nihinahe matsuri (Niiname matsuri). In the beginning, he states that the Ohonihe matsuri was the annual harvest festival observed not only by the sovereign and his court, but by commoners as well (74).

5. Konishi believes that the concept of kotodama preceded its appearance in written works of the late seventh and early eighth centuries, because its practice was so widespread as to need little explanation. If certain words in the Yamato language were spoken in specific ways, the human breath would either bring about an auspicious or calamitous result. The fact that the Kojiki was written down from an oral recitation of the Hieda no Are is an example of the importance of the spoken word and the oral tradition in archaic and ancient Yamato. Konishi Jin’ichi. A History of Japanese Literature, Volume Two: The Archaic and Ancient Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984:163-64.

6. For the sacred water yogoto, see XXVIII "Congratulatory Words of the Nakatomi" in Donald L. Philippi, trans. Norito: A New Translation of the Ancient Japanese Ritual Prayers (Tokyo: The Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics Kokugakuin University, 1959), 76-79. There are other norito and yogoto that are recited only by the Nakatomi: there are eight out of thirty-two that are assigned specifically to the Nakatomi to invoke aloud in Philippi: II, VII, X, XIV, XV, XVI, XXI, and XXIII. To defend the late date during which the yogoto was recorded in the Taiki, Ellwood maintains that the conservative nature of liturgical materials argues for the faithful continuation of the earlier tradition, rather than a reconstruction (54).

7. For the complete translation of the "Congratulatory Words of the Nakatomi," see Appendix 2.

8. In the standard creation myth, bamboo sprouts, hair ties, and combs play a significant part during Izanagi’s escape from the land of Yomi while he is pursued by the Shikome, hideous hags from the world of darkness and ritual impurity. First, when Izanagi throws down the cords which bind his hair, they turn into grapes that the Shikome stop to devour. Once again when the females close in on him, he throws down teeth from the comb that turn into bamboo sprouts that again the hags stop to eat. Thus there is something mysterious about bamboo sprouts since moon maidens were also found inside one its stalks in the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

9. For a translation of Sections 1-15 of Ben no Naishi Nikki, see Appendix 1.