Shinto in Ninth-Century Imperial Edicts
Ross Bender
The traditional distinction between senmyō and norito is that the former are edicts from the gods while the latter are prayers to the gods. Eighth-century Old Japanese imperial edicts in Shoku Nihongi were decrees pronounced by the sovereigns, who considered themselves living gods, to officialdom in a variety of situations. But in the ninth century there came a striking and significant change. While the sovereigns continued to designate themselves as manifest deities, about half of the senmyō in the Six National Histories are addressed as prayers to a variety of Shinto gods, including deceased divine emperors. Some of the language is identical to that found in norito, codified in the tenth-century Engi Shiki.
https://www.academia.edu/53291906/Shinto_in_Ninth_Century_Imperial_Edicts
Ross Bender