fudoki

are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and folklore. Fudoki manuscripts also document local myths, rituals, and poems that are not mentioned in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki chronicles, which are the most important literature of the ancient national mythology and history. In the course of national unification, the imperial court enacted a series of criminal and administrative codes called ritsuryō and surveyed the provinces established by such codes to exert greater control over them.

== Kofudoki == thumb|250px|A scroll of the oldest extant Fudoki from Harima Province preserved at [[Tenri Central Library in Tenri, Nara]] In the narrower sense, Fudoki refer to the oldest records written in the Nara period, later called . Compilation of Kofudoki began in 713 and was completed over a 20-year period. Following the Taika Reform in 646 and the Code of Taihō enacted in 701, there was need to centralize and solidify the power of the imperial court. This included accounting for lands under its control. According to the Shoku Nihongi, Empress Genmei issued a decree in 713 ordering each to collect and report the following information: Etymology of names for geographic features, such as mountains, plains, and rivers Land fertility Myths, legends, and folktales told orally by old people Names of districts and townships Natural resources and living things