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==History and Development==
==History and Development==
Where the study of ancient Chinese and Japanese texts and subjects were traditionally seen as a single field, inseparable parts of studying to become "learned," the emergence of ''kokugaku'' represents a significant deviation from that tradition.<ref>William Theodore de Bary, Carol Gluck, and Arthur Tiedemann (eds.), ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', Second Edition, vol 2, Columbia University Press (2005), 481-482.</ref>
''Kokugaku'' began in the philological examination of classical Japanese texts, including the ''[[Kojiki]]'' ([[712]]), ''[[Manyoshu|Man'yôshû]]'' (c. 760s), and ''[[Tale of Genji]]'' (c. 1000). The ''Kojiki'' was taken as a particularly appropriate text, since it is the earliest known written history of Japan, and was written in ''[[kana]]'', in a form more closely resembling the recording of earlier oral traditions, in contrast to the ''[[Nihon shoki]]'' of [[720]], which was written in ''[[kanji]]'' (Chinese characters), in a format emulating the official dynastic histories of China.
''Kokugaku'' began in the philological examination of classical Japanese texts, including the ''[[Kojiki]]'' ([[712]]), ''[[Manyoshu|Man'yôshû]]'' (c. 760s), and ''[[Tale of Genji]]'' (c. 1000). The ''Kojiki'' was taken as a particularly appropriate text, since it is the earliest known written history of Japan, and was written in ''[[kana]]'', in a form more closely resembling the recording of earlier oral traditions, in contrast to the ''[[Nihon shoki]]'' of [[720]], which was written in ''[[kanji]]'' (Chinese characters), in a format emulating the official dynastic histories of China.