inese. The book was compiled in 720 CE and covers much of the same material as the Kojiki with alternate versions of myths or events. The third book is the Yengi-shiki, meaning the institutes of the Yengi period. The book was compiled between 901-923 CE and describes the rituals practiced during the Yengi era. It contains a few ancient prayers and is an important source for the ceremonies of Shinto. The final book is the Manyo-shiu, meaning the collection of myriad leaves. It was written in the late eighth or early ninth century and contains a collection of four hundred poems. The poems celebrate the splendors of the Japanese landscape.In the seventh century the Shintoism gained some coherence by being related to the emperor. The Kojiki established the emperor as a direct descendent of the Sun-Goddess. To secure the loyalty of his subjects the old myths were retold and elaborated and the emperor became a divine figure. The Kojiki shows how the emperor can trace his descent from the Sun-Goddess and through to Izanagi and Izanami the two primal deities who gave birth to the gods and the islands of Japan. "The elaboration of Shinto in the interest of the monarchy is the really characteristic feature of Shinto and its typically national form." (19) An issue of debate among Shinto scholars is on the question of whether ancestor-worship had always existed or whether it had been imported from China. There is an important distinction to be made between a cult of the dead and a cult of the ancestors. A cult of the dead is based on a fear that if the dead are neglected, they will haunt or harm the living. A cult of the ancestors, however, is based on spiritual fraternity in which offerings are not made through fear but to promote the family. It is now generally regarded by most scholars that Shintoism included nature-worship and a cult of the dead prior to Chinese contact. After the Chinese arrival true ancestor worship be...
