The Kojiki (the oldest book in Japan) contains 33 chapters pertaining to the creation of the universe and man, but the Kojiki (712 CE)is prefaced with a letter to the daughter-in-law of the Emperor of that time. The letter sums up the creation story. This is the letter:
"I, Yasumaro, say: When chaos had begun to condense, but force and form were not yet manifest, and nothing was named, nothing done, who could know its shape? Nevertheless Heaven and Earth first parted, and the Three Deities performed the commencement of creation. The Passive and Active Essences (Yin and Yang) then developed, and the Two Spirits became the ancestors of all things. Therefore, he (man) entered obscurity and emerged into light, and the Sun and Moon were revealed by the washing of his eyes. He floated on and plunged into the seawater, and Heavenly and Earthly Deities appeared through the washings of his person. So in the dimness of the great commencement, we, by relying on the original teaching, learn the time of the conception of the earth and of the birth of the islands." (Japan).
Taken from : Anthology Of World Scriptures by Robert Van Voorst 1994
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