Shinto ceremonies today still echo the pages of the Nihon Shoki, weaving ancient lore into every sacred gesture. The Daijōsai (Great Thanksgiving Festival) held after an imperial enthronement draws directly on its imperial genealogy, celebrating Amaterasu’s gift of rice— a ritual rooted in those very chronicles. When Emperor Naruhito performed his 2019 Daijōsai, each offering bowl of freshly harvested grain tied back to the Sun Goddess’s blessings as recorded in that eighth-century text.

Monthly Tsukinamisai services at major shrines quietly reenact the cosmic rhythms first laid out by Izanagi and Izanami. Their creation myths, complete with Izanagi’s purification rites after confronting death, inform the Misogi purification that still takes place at the crack of dawn beside mountain streams and waterfall basins. It’s as if the myths jump off the parchment, alive in every splash of cold water.

Kagura dances— from the courtly Yamato kagura at Ise Jingu to grassroots performances during Aoi Matsuri in Kyoto— often depict Susanoo’s slaying of the eight-headed serpent. Costumed performers sway and stamp, retelling that epic encounter, making spectators feel they’ve stepped into the ancient world of gods and monsters.

Norito prayers, too, borrow phrases verbatim. During the Niiname-sai harvest festival each November, priests intone blessings almost word for word: invoking heaven and earth, beseeching peace and prosperity just as the Nihon Shoki prescribes. Even small neighborhood shrines echo this, borrowing lines to seal communal hopes.

In recent years, the Tokyo Olympic torch-lighting ceremony included a purification rite modeled on Izanagi’s misogi— a vivid reminder that those ancient scribbles still carry weight in contemporary Japan. When chanting priests brush a sakaki branch against offerings or when the lantern-lit paths of summer festivals wind toward the main hall, it’s clear: the Nihon Shoki isn’t gathering dust. It pulses through every bow, every clap, every whispered prayer— binding past and present in a single, living tradition.