Kogoshūi

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Kogoshūi (Gleanings from Ancient Stories). An account of Japanese mythology and early history according to the Imbe clan, a hereditary Shinto priestly family. It was composed and presented to Emperor Heizei in 807 CE, by Imbe no Hironari as a protest against a rival priestly family, the Nakatomi, who had increasingly eclipsed the Imbe. The author's overall intention is to picture the ancestor of the Imbe as equal in dignity and importance with that of the Nakatomi. While containing much the same material as the Kojiki and the Nihongi, the Kogoshūi preserves a number of interesting pieces of information that are not found elsewhere.