Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest of Times to AD 697

The Nihongi provides us with a first-hand story of Japan, a record of the beliefs and the character of its people, from the earliest times to the early Nara period. It concludes in the year A.D. 697, after the main impact of Chinese civilization.
The Nihongi is mainly concerned with events in the Asuka period (A.D. 552-645), when Buddhism and the advanced culture of China entered Japan via Korea. Before this time were the ages of Jomon and Yayoi, mysterious then as they still are today. The Horyu-ji temple illustrates the period ofthe Nihongi. At this time Japanese art and literature adopted Chinese and Korean models, but with an inventiveness and
freshness never to be surpassed in succeeding periods. Superb Japanese sculpture was then created, for example, the Miroku or Buddha of the Future, of the Chugu-ji nunnery in Nara Prefecture personifies the spirit of the times. The age of the Nihongi wes the great formative age of most things now regarded as typically Japanese.