Biblexika

Nihon Shoki

shintoClassical Chinese/Japanese720 CE

Second great chronicle of Japan with alternative creation myths

Translation: W.G. Aston (1896) (Public Domain)

Overview

The Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), completed in 720 CE, is the second-oldest chronicle of Japan and the most comprehensive ancient account of Japanese history and mythology. Written primarily in classical Chinese, the scholarly language of the East Asian educated world, it was composed by a committee of scholars under imperial commission and presented at court in the formal mode of Chinese dynastic histories. Together with the Kojiki (712 CE), it forms the twin pillars of Shinto mythological and historical tradition.

The Nihon Shoki covers much of the same mythological ground as the Kojiki but often presents alternative versions of the same myths side by side. For the creation of the cosmos, it sometimes offers multiple variant accounts simultaneously, reflecting a scholarly approach that collects traditions rather than harmonizing them into a single authoritative version. This editorial approach, which preserves textual variety, contrasts with how both the Hebrew Bible and the Quran present their foundational narratives and raises important questions about canonization processes in different religious traditions.

The historical books of the Nihon Shoki, covering the reigns of successive emperors from the legendary Jimmu onward, incorporate dates, administrative records, and accounts of foreign relations with Korea and China that make it one of the primary sources for early Japanese history. The account of Prince Shotoku (573-621 CE), who introduced Buddhism to Japan and issued Japan's first written constitution, is among the most historically significant sections, documenting the transformation of Japanese religious life through contact with Chinese Buddhist culture.

Bible connections
  • Genesis 1-2 (multiple creation accounts preserved side by side)
  • 2 Samuel 7 (divine legitimation of a royal line through covenant promise)
  • 2 Kings 22-23 (a ruler who transforms national religious life through reform)
  • Daniel 7 (divine beings in the heavenly court, cosmic governance of earthly kingdoms)
Key terms
kami– the divine beings or sacred forces of Shinto — not gods in the Western monotheistic sense but powers of awe, beauty, and vitality inhabiting natural phenomena, ancestors, and sacred places
kanbun– classical Chinese literary writing as used by Japanese educated elites — the language in which the Nihon Shoki was written, marking it as a court document of the East Asian literary tradition
Mandate of Heaven (tianming)– the Chinese political-theological concept adopted in Prince Shotoku's constitution, asserting that rulers govern by divine authorization contingent on virtuous and beneficent rule
imperial regalia (sanshu no jingi)– the three sacred objects — the mirror Yata no Kagami, the sword Kusanagi, and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama — entrusted to Ninigi at the divine commission and constituting the physical symbols of imperial authority to this day
Did you know?

Prince Shotoku's seventeen-article constitution, recorded in the Nihon Shoki and dated to 604 CE, is considered Japan's first written legal code. Its first article commands harmony (wa) as the highest political value — a concept that has shaped Japanese social culture ever since — and its second article commands reverence for the Three Treasures of Buddhism, showing the synthesis of Shinto imperial theology, Buddhist ethics, and Confucian hierarchy in early Japanese governance.