Modern scholars tend to read the Nihon Shoki’s more fantastic chapters as crafted stories with clear political and cultural agendas, rather than straightforward history. A handful of key interpretations has emerged:

• Political legitimation: The divine genealogies linking the imperial house back to Amaterasu help cement early rulers’ authority. By weaving gods into genealogies, compilers under Empress Genmei (early 8th century) built a mythic foundation that mirrored contemporary Chinese dynastic histories—think of it as borrowing a page from the Tang playbook.

• Syncretism and continental influence: Close analysis shows Buddhist and Confucian ideas sneaking into Shinto tales. References to cosmic order echo Chinese creation myths, while ritual prescriptions nod toward imported Buddhist rites. Scholars now talk about the Nihon Shoki as a cultural stew, simmering local folk beliefs alongside newly arrived philosophies.

• Archaeological and regional cross-checks: Excavations in Kofun-era tombs, along with provincial records like the Izumo Fudoki, let historians cross-reference clan traditions that didn’t make the central narrative. This helps tease out which bits came from Yamato court propaganda and which survived as genuine community lore.

• Comparative mythology: Structuralist approaches—drawing on Lévi-Strauss or Campbell—spot shared patterns in world myths (twin gods, world-pillar motifs, underworld journeys). That “cosmic spear” used to stir the primal sea resonates not only in Japanese folklore but in far-flung creation myths, suggesting a universal storytelling toolkit rather than a literal historical account.

• Modern political readings: Through the Meiji Restoration and even into the 20th century, these myths were revived to fuel state Shinto. Post-war critics have since peeled back that layer, showing how narratives once reinforced ultra-nationalism and imperial expansion. Current debates around Shinto at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony highlighted how ancient stories still color national identity today.

Rather than treating the Nihon Shoki as a literal chronicle, today’s historians see it as a multi-layered tapestry blending myth, courtcraft and early nation-building. Like pulling back the curtain on a Kabuki stage, modern research uncovers not only the performances of gods and heroes, but the human ambitions and cross-cultural exchanges hidden behind them.