The Kojiki, Japan’s oldest surviving chronicle of Shinto myths, was completed in 712. Its title means “Records of Ancient Matters,” and the work combines creation myths, genealogies, heroic narratives, and early imperial traditions.
The compilation was produced at the imperial court during the Nara period. Ō no Yasumaro wrote the text, drawing on traditions associated with Hieda no Are, and presented it to Empress Genmei in the fifth year of the Wadō era. The chronicle is divided into three books and traces Japan’s story from the age of the gods through the reign of Empress Suiko.
A common mix-up is the Nihon Shoki, another major early Japanese chronicle. It was completed in 720, eight years after the Kojiki, and uses a more formal classical Chinese style. The Kojiki is especially important for Shinto because it preserves stories about Izanagi and Izanami, Amaterasu, Susanoo, and the divine ancestry claimed by Japan’s imperial line.