Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, survives to the present day and forms the basis of Japanese society. Shinto has played and continues to play not only a huge role in Japanese society in general, but also in regards to the role of women both in society in general and in society within traditional Shinto. The Japanese believe that everything important is built on relationships. This is underlined by Confucian moral theology which advocates human relationships and fundamental virtues. Within these relationships, everyone, man and woman, superior and inferior, is expected to sacrifice themselves (Kasulis 111). As a result, this led to the creation of a general feeling of victimization. Despite the Shinto maternal principle that operated in Japanese society, the formation of society was and still remains a patriarchal hierarchy. It could be argued that Japanese society's desire for patriarchalization stemmed from the political power of the imperial family who promoted this ideal. The source of the imperial family's power is divine authority derived from the ancestral deity, Amaterasu, as Kojiki and Nihongi describe (Kasulis 75). Since Amaterasu is the ancestral goddess of the imperial family, the sun goddess who rules the universe and who occupies the highest position in Shinto, she serves to show historical attitudes towards women and modern attitudes towards women. This can be evidenced through the ancient Shinto texts, the Kojiki and the Nihongi. The Kojiki and the Nihongi are the two original Japanese written documents that illuminate the first documented Japanese attitude towards women (Lu 3-4). These documents facilitated the discovery of a renowned and revered female presence. The Nihongi contains... the central part of the document... from legislation to mythology. However, one of the most powerful approaches appears to be that of the ideological seed planted by the Kojiki. Despite over a thousand years of dominant history, many of the same ideas are still present in modern Shinto society: women are still considered to be impure on some level, and are still treated as visual objects rather than authentic contributors to the religion like themselves. male counterparts. From the crowded streets of Tokyo to the villages of Chugoku Prefecture, women are seen as dependent on male authority and must maintain the social and political cues that Shinto and society at large have set up for them. Perhaps as time goes on women will be welcomed and celebrated in all aspects of Shinto as active contributors as they were in ancient times rather than as visual spectacles or vehicles of male power..