Shinto does not rest upon a single revealed scripture, but upon a constellation of texts, rituals, and inherited customs that together articulate its vision of the kami and the world. At the center of this constellation stand the *Kojiki* (“Records of Ancient Matters,” 712) and the *Nihon Shoki* or *Nihongi* (“Chronicles of Japan,” 720). These early chronicles weave together creation myths, genealogies of the kami, and narratives of the imperial house, offering a mythological framework in which the land, its deities, and the human community are understood as deeply interrelated. Although these works function differently from the “holy books” of more doctrinal religions, they provide a shared narrative horizon for Shinto thought and practice.

Alongside these mytho-historical chronicles, Shinto draws heavily on ritual and liturgical texts that give concrete form to its reverence for the kami. The *Engishiki*, compiled in the early tenth century, is especially significant as a detailed compendium of state rituals and procedures. Within it are preserved the *norito*, formal ritual prayers and invocations addressed to the kami, which articulate themes of purity, gratitude, and harmonious relationship between humans and the sacred. Collections of *norito* used in shrine ceremonies continue this pattern, embodying Shinto values not so much through abstract doctrine as through the spoken word offered in ritual context.

Yet even these important writings do not exhaust the sources of Shinto teaching. Much of what is most characteristic in Shinto has been transmitted through oral tradition, local customs, and the living practices of families and communities. Ritual observances, seasonal festivals, and regional lore surrounding particular shrines and kami often carry teachings that were never systematically codified in written form. Shinto thus emerges less as a religion of the book and more as a religion whose texts, rites, and everyday practices mutually illuminate one another, inviting practitioners to encounter the kami through both inherited narratives and the ongoing life of the community.