Kunimi

The ancient Japanese practice of kunimi (国見^?), lit. "viewing the realm", involved climbing a mountain to survey the land, often before praising it in song. It is documented in the early chronicles the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki as well as in a number of poems in the Man'yōshū.^[1]

Close association with the Imperial House may suggest that kunimi was an agricultural rite imported from China; alternatively it may have been a folk practice.^[1] The "blood relationship" between emperor and land gives kunimi added significance.^[2]


There are a number of kunimi uta or land-viewing poems in the Man'yōshū, including MYS 1: 2 by Emperor Jomei:^[1][3]

Countless are the mountains in Yamato,
But perfect is the heavenly hill of Kagu;
When I climb it and survey my realm,
Over the wide plain the smoke-wreaths rise and rise,
Over the wide lake the gulls are on the wing;
A beautiful land it is, the Land of Yamato!