Yasumaro on the Teachings of the Ancients

Thus, through the primeval beginnings be distant and dim, yet by the ancient teachings do we know the time when the lands were conceived and the islands born; Though the origins be vague and indistinct, yet by relying upon the sages of antiquity do we perceive the age when the deities were born and man were made to stand.

Yasumaro. 712 AD. Preface to the Kojiki (the "Record of Ancient Matters," the oldest surviving manuscript in Japanese.) Translation by Donald J. Philippi, University of Tokyo Press, 1968.