Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, often
called the Nihonshoki, is one of Japan's great classics of literature. It provides a vivid picture of a nation in formation. In Nihongi we see the growth of national awareness following the assimilation of Buddhism and the general Chinese and Indian influence on Japanese culture. For a thousand years emperors, scholars, courtiers, and imperial historians have found in the Nihongi knowledge and guidance. The translator, William George Aston, C.M.G., pioneered the translation of Japanese into English.