Shinto texts

Out of these texts, only the Kokki survived the burning of Soga no Emishi's estate (where these documents were kept) during the Isshi incident of 645, and was itself apparently lost soon after.

According to the preface, Emperor Tenmu (reigned 673–686) ordered the review and emendation of clan documents and commissioned a certain court attendant (toneri) of exceptional memory named Hieda no Are to memorize records and oral traditions concerning the imperial lineage.

Apart from furthering the imperial agenda, an increased interest in the nation's origins in reaction to the influx of foreign culture and the need for an authoritative genealogical account by which to consider the claims of noble families and to reorganize them into a new system of ranks and titles are also possible factors for its compilation.

Regardless of the work's original intent, it finalized and possibly even formulated the framework by which Japanese history was examined in terms of the reign of emperors.

[15]: 30 In the Nihon Shoki there is a myth related to the rule of Emperor Sujin, Yamato Okunitama and a possible decline of the role of Amaterasu.

[21] The idea of there being a static "Canon" mythology may have originated in the early 700s as a product of an attempt to legitimize Imperial rule.

[23] The Rikkokushi directly follow the Nihongi[5] but are considered separate due to their historical nature It was only in 1790 when Kokugaku scholar Motoori Norinaga published Kojiki-den that the Kojiki became widely studied.