ABSTRACT
The fact that the Kiki myths have many variants is well known; Kiki here primarily refers to the generic name of the myths and legends authorized by the ancient imperial court to be constituted of the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon shoki (Chronicles of Japan). This can be observed from the differences between the main text of the Nihon shoki and the variant (Issho), which takes the form of a commentary pertaining to each paragraph within the main text, as well as within the various versions of myths in the Nihon shoki and the Kojiki, the fudoki (records of the geography and culture of the provinces), and the Senmyo¯ (record of oral directives by the emperor). Studies of the Kiki myths up to now have not tried to view differences among accounts as a quandary resulting from various accounts existing concomitantly. Rather, such studies have been attempting to treat the differences as merely derivations that have deviated from the unified and orthodox form of myth over the passage of time.
