Nihongi

   Also known as Nihon Shoki 'Chronicles of Japan'. A Nara period document similar to the Kojiki and completed in 720. It contained the myths and legendary history of the imperial Yamato clan which legitimised the imperial rule. It later became a major focus of philological studies by the kokugaku scholars and came to prominence in the 18th-19th centuries as a result of these studies and the development of the 'restoration Shinto' movement of Hirata, Atsutane which prefigured the Meiji restoration. Much of the legendary history of Japan from the age of the gods, which featured prominently in pre­war 'state Shinto' (kokka Shinto) education textbooks (though not the ethic of loyalty and filial piety, which was originally Confucian) was derived from the Nihongi and Kojiki. There is an English translation by W G Aston.