Currently a work in progress, the Ikihon is the closest thing Takanjism has to a holy book. Though it is being written and compiled by Takanji denrei and isn't "divinely revealed" in any way, it still provides the core of the truth.

Nonetheless, it must be noted that the High Spirits are very capable of planting ideas and thoughts in our minds, as well as directly speaking to us. They are more than likely providing their input to the Ikihon in this way. However, how much input they are actually having is a mystery, and it is safest to assume that it is the work of the human mind.

The Ikihon is organized much like the Bible or Qur'an, with chapters and verses. For example, "The first shaped into a large bird, so large it would take up the entire sky if it flew over us; it became the red phoenix, Suzaku," corresponds to Shusshou 1:3.

Shusshou/Birth is the first book of the Ikihon.

-----Chapter 1------

1 In the beginning, we humans did not exist. There was a large ball of energy in the universe, surrounded by emptiness that stretched farther than the eye could see. 2 Suddenly, this large ball exploded, and four great balls of energy came from it, being scattered temporarily. They were of four colors, one red, one blue, one green, one white. They stayed as balls only for a while, however, and they began to take shape, take form.

3 The first shaped into a large bird, so large it would take up the entire sky if it flew over us; it became the red phoenix, Suzaku. 4 The second ball began to take shape, becoming a long spiral of energy, then becoming solid, in the shape of a dragon. It had become the blue dragon, Seiryuu. 5 The third ball shaped into a green, dome-shaped ball of energy, and sprouted four limbs from it, and a stub at one end. It solidified, becoming a large tortoise. It had become the green tortoise, Genbu. 6 The final ball, the white, quickly took shape, stubs elongating and becoming limbs. Finally, it solidified, taking form as it’s three brothers had. It became the large white, blue-striped tiger, Byakko. 7 They all exchanged glances, curious as to who they were, where they were, what they were, so many questions.

8 As time went slowly by, they continued to find no answers, yet they got to know each other. They regarded each other as brothers, almost, seeing as how they seemed to have so much in common. Then what they had learned seemed to have meant nothing once more, and they resumed conversation and questioning amongst themselves. Then Genbu, the most silent of them, spoke up.
9 “Dear brothers, I, Genbu, seem to possess some knowledge. I am sorry I hid what I know from you, but I wanted to see your opinions before presenting my own. And well, I see you don’t have much to offer, so I shall share. From what I deduce, we four emerged from a large inferno of energy, and we are the only beings that seem to exist. Everything around us is emptiness. I also deduce that we are creatures of great power, and it seems that we are almost permanent in existence, immortal.”
10 “What kind of powers would we possess?” Byakko said in his deep voice.
11 “Even I do not know that, brother, perhaps you could see for yourself?” Genbu said in his low tone.
12 Suzaku was the first to try to see what power he had. He flapped his wings as an exercise, creating a massive gust that headed for Byakko. Byakko opened his mouth, and swallowed it down. He quickly blew the wind back out, and from the divinity of the substance, he became the master of the wind.
13 Seiryuu tried to blow out wind, but nothing came out. Then Genbu, but still nothing.
14 Then Suzaku tried, he knew he would get the power of wind too, because he had chatted with Byakko closely, and angered him. He had tricked Byakko into blowing wind from his mouth in anger. Suzaku swallowed it, and flew over to his other brothers. He blew out hard as he could, but no wind came, no, the fires in his belly ignited the wind, the flames consuming the air and becoming a fireball. When Suzaku breathed out, a large ball of fire flew out from his beak, and it went far into the distance, looking small, becoming the first star. He had breathed fire, and he became the master of fire, just as Byakko was of wind.
15 Genbu was next. He focused hard as he could, and the mystic runes on his shell glowed as he did. He pounded his feet on the emptiness in which he stood. With such force he did, that large amounts of magical energy left his body from his runes, shooting in every direction with extreme speed. After it was over, there were many pieces of a brown, soft substance scattered throughout the emptiness, some small, some large. They extended for infinity, far beyond what the eye could see, even the eyes of these incredible beings could not see it all. Genbu, he had created the first bits of soil and rock, scattered throughout the emptiness. He became the master of the element Earth.
16 Seiryuu was next, he was very frustrated, he had a bad temper, the worst temper of any being that exists now or existed then. He constantly tried to make something, yet he couldn’t. He sank to his knees in the emptiness, weeping. It was from this tear that the first drop of water was born. To our size, it would be as large as an ocean, but to them it was small. Seiryuu, without knowing it, had created the first drop of water, and thus, he became the master of water. He told his brothers to make him feel sorrow, so that he would cry more, and more water would be created. 17 Suzaku refused, not wanting to be a bully, Genbu remained silent, and Byakko began to tease and torment Seiryuu, making him cry. Genbu turned around, he couldn’t take it.
Some time later, Genbu finally turned around again, facing the crying Seiryuu and Byakko.

18 “Enough!” he shouted in such a tone never heard before. Seiryuu stopped crying, Byakko stopped teasing, and Suzaku looked at the silent brother in amazement.
19 “Shame on you Byakko, how can you be so cruel? Especially to your own brother!” Genbu said. Byakko hung his head in shame. Genbu calmed down. “If Seiryuu wishes to summon his creation at will, then I have the solution.”
20 Seiryuu’s three brothers made him plug his own ears and shut his own eyes as Genbu carried out his plan. Genbu forged a golden trident with his magic, Suzaku’s fiery breath, and Byakko’s strong wind. Genbu placed a tear in the trident, and a rune that was for creation of something placed alongside it.
21 Genbu alone gave it to Seiryuu, and Seiryuu took it. When he was told to swing it, Seiryuu did, and when he did, a large wave of water came out and went beyond eyesight. Seiryuu hugged his brother as best as he could, smiling. It is from this experience that Seiryuu became the master of the element of water. He also brought the emotion of sadness to existence. It is also from this experience that Seiryuu drew his extreme love for and loyalty to Genbu, and his contempt for Byakko’s mean ways, and contempt for Suzaku due to standing idly by.
22 The three were told by Genbu that they were beings called “High Spirits”. He said the only rank above them would be a god, but since they had small flaws in them, they could not be considered gods. They all understood, and began their creation of the universe.
------Chapter 2---------
The 4 High Spirits did not stay idle for long after they obtained their powers. They began to calculate the size of worlds, and combined their powers to make planets. Before this, Suzaku fired entire quantities of fireballs in every direction, creating stars all around them, piercing the chilly darkness with a warm light. Genbu called large amounts of the scattered soil together to make a shape, not always round. The 3 other High Spirits did their work while Genbu used his magic and control over Earth to hold it together. Seiryuu filled in gaps with large amounts of water, islands and continents appearing as a result. Byakko made the wind blow on the world, making erosion take effect and giving the world a climate. And Suzaku scorched entire patches of the land, creating heat that was trapped on the world’s surface by Byakko’s constant wind. Suzaku would fire more stars into the distance everywhere they went so there would be no spot without a shred of light.

Genbu told his brothers to move on, and they did, continuing to make more planets. After completing several worlds, Genbu told his brothers to stop.

“Why do we stop? There’s large amounts of work left undone!” The 3 brothers complained to Genbu.

“My dear brothers...I sense something wrong...let us go check on the previous worlds we have made.” Genbu said.

When they arrived at one world, they were shocked. The dirt had seperated into it’s original pieces, the water had shattered into drops that flew about aimlessly, the heat had escaped the world, the wind had stopped blowing.

They checked the next world and the next, and found the same result all over. They all wept, except for Genbu, who was hard in thought, wondering what was wrong.

“Brother, you are the wisest, why has this occured?” Suzaku said.

Genbu thought for another moment, and opened his eyes. “The reason is simple. We can make the world be what we want it to be when we stay near it...however, when we leave the world, the force I exert on it that keeps it together stops, and it disintegrates...In other words, we are limited to one world...”

The others gasped, except for Seiryu, who also was thinking.

“Brother Genbu, I have a better idea. If we cannot hold the world together while we are away, why not make something else do it?”

“I mean, why not create something, a force that will affect the entire universe, and make the worlds stay together when we’re not holding them together?” Seiryu said.

“I think you may be on to something, Seiryu.” Genbu said. A rune of Genbu’s shell, representing force, began to glow. The rune lifted off his shell, hovering in the middle of the 4 High Spirits.

“All extend your divine power to this rune, so we may create this force!” Genbu said, channeling his essence into the rune. Byakko joined, then Suzaku, and then Seiryu. The rune released a massive wave of energy that shot across the entire universe. The 4 High Spirits had created what we humans know as “gravity.”

The High Spirits then noticed something as they remade their worlds. Not only did the worlds they made stay together, but large bits of soil were attracting each other, clumping and becoming barren worlds, as they saw worlds they did not make everywhere they went. These worlds then were attracted to the large stars that had been born in the fires of Suzaku’s stomach, creating solar systems.

The 4 High Spirits then decided to make the universe more interesting by making it more diverse. They gave only certain planets wind, heat, and water. Some were left without heat yet with water, and ice was made. They also noticed gravity existed between everything besides them. The worlds attracted each other, the stars attracted each other, everything was locked in a universal pull due to gravity. The worlds also began to turn due to each other’s gravitational pull, creating night and day as they turned, letting one side have light only temporarily, then darkness, then the whole process would repeat.
The 4 Spirits found several worlds that they believed would be excellent places for they themselves to reside, but they decided that they should make their own world, which would be perfect for all of them. They went to work for what they thought might be the last time, as they forged a new world: Earth.

Having been anxious to see his water contained in a beautiful place, Seiryu rained down his liquid upon the third Earth, watching as it adhered to the surface, covering the entire planet. Suzaku, intrigued by his brother's experiment, set his fires deep within the Earth's core, causing its outer crust to rupture and allow hot lava to seep out. Soon, as the lava cooled and solidified, land began to appear above the surface. Interested in the mingling of Seiryuu's oceans and the land created by Suzaku's volcanoes, Genbu decided to fashion a small moon to orbit the Earth, churning the waters with its gravity and creating tides. The tides splashed upon the land, shaping and carving it into beautiful, rolling shapes. Byakko soon joined, spreading his winds all over the planet, creating ocean currents, global winds, and a rich atmosphere that shined a brilliant blue as the sun's rays crept through.

The fates and stories of worlds other than our own will remain a mystery to mankind for eternity. The words that follow is our story.
----Chapter 3-------
As time went by, the High Spirits enjoyed themselves for the most part on the world they had created. Suzaku flew through the heavens above, Byakko carved a palace for himself through his powerful breath and his mighty fists, Seiryu swam in any body of water he saw fit, having the ability to shift his size like his other brothers, this was no problem. And Genbu, well, he is the reason for this story.

Genbu was extremely academic in personality, always curious to find out new things to add to his wisdom. He was somewhat like a divine scientist. He spent time reviewing what he knew, and finding out more. The mystical runes he possessed greatly aided in finding new things, he discovered the make up of objects, finding atoms and so many things he had not imagined before, even in his wisest mind.

One day, an odd question came up to Genbu. Why was it that only they could think and speak and so many other talents none of the lifeless masses they had created had? Genbu, his mind always curious, continued to look into it. Genbu had the power of creation in his collection of runes, and he wondered if he could use it somehow to solve the problem. Then the idea came to him: Why not try to animate a soul-less object?

Genbu gathered materials he thought would be required, trying all sorts of procedures to animate objects, learning from his mistakes and trying to repair them. After much trial and error, he managed to create the first tiny spec of life, a one-celled organism, becoming the master of the creation of life. Genbu was intrigued by his invention, and he memorized the procedure to make it. But he was disappointed when he noticed he had made a flaw in the being. The flaw was that it could not recognize the intelligence he gave it, he could not give it the consciousness that he and his brothers had. Despite this, Genbu created many more of these small life forces, noticing some of them died off for an unknown cause. Upon closer examination, he discovered that several things were the reason: Some bacteria were dying because to his surprise, some of them were being attacked by their fellow microscopic brethren, the stronger ones attacking the weak and absorbing them. This was the price of lacking intellect, some could not recognize the situation and protect themselves from harm.

Genbu was nervous, he could not create more of these with the thought that they could not defend themselves. Genbu wondered who he could go to for aid, but he wished to keep the project a secret. He eventually sighed, deciding that probably the best way to counter aggression was with aggression in this case. Since Byakko knew aggression well, Genbu went to him and asked for his aid inside the carved palace Byakko had made.

“Brother Byakko, you know aggression well, what is the best way to counter it?”

“My personal solution for solving aggression is more aggression until one cannot be aggressive anymore.” Byakko replied easily. “Why do you ask me this?”

Genbu didn’t wish to tell, but he knew he couldn’t get help from Byakko if he didn’t tell. He explained to Byakko about the project, and that he wanted a way for the bacteria to defend themselves from other bacteria. Byakko saw opportunity in this, and took advantage.

“Hmm...so you wish for these ‘bacteria’ to be able to defend themselves without intelligence?” Byakko said.

Genbu nodded. “Yes, and I know as the most aggressive of us, that you could have an answer.”

Byakko thought. “I may know a way.” Genbu’s eyes lit up with hope, but that hope quickly died down when he realized aid would have consequences. Byakko grinned. “On one condition. If I succeed, then the creatures will be mine to rule, and anything that they spawn from themselves will also be mine.” Genbu was unsure, but he sighed and made the agreement.

At the experimentation site, Byakko worked with Genbu, telling him that intelligence wasn’t what the creatures needed. They needed something that would be deep inside them, and could not be forgotten easily. Byakko and Genbu implanted a will to survive and a basic programming for existence into the bacteria. They had created “instinct” together, but Byakko was recognized as its main creator. They watched what happened, and indeed, many of the attacked bacteria reacted, fighting their attackers. Now that they had a will to continue existing and would defend themselves, the agreement was effective. From this, Byakko became the owner of these bacteria, and in the future, it would allow him to become the King of Animals.

From this experiment, the basic building blocks of life were created, and soon, that life would thrive, spreading to every corner of the planet and growing more complex, spawning many interesting beings.

----Chapter 4------

One day, after the life forms crafted by Genbu and Byakko had long since evolved into far more complex, larger beings, Seiryu lay in the water, swimming on his back and relaxing. Seiryu then heard voices in his head, looking around to see what it was. Upon changing to a much larger size and searching for it throughout the world, he found it within a vast desert. The being was small, one of the many beings that had spawned from the early forms of bacteria.
“Water...water...” the being seemed to be mentally saying to Seiryu, who was invisible to it. Seiryu thought for a second about a solution, and in all his kindness, he used his powers to force torrents of water to gush from the most barren wastelands throughout the land, creating oases for those unfortunate enough to wander into the dry land of the baking sun. The life form managed to survive with the water given by the gentle giant, and life sprouted up around many of the oases, giving hope to a barren land.
Seiryu immediately met with his brothers, a thought had occured to him. What of the life that resided on the planet? Should they not find some way to make sure that not only the life could exist without being destroyed, so they could focus on other matters, but also so someone could spread and live by their message? They began to work on the evolutionary process that had already developed itself, trying to push it in a different direction.
The Spirits failed in their first experiment, instead of creating very intelligent beings, they created primitive, large and lumbering beings, reptilian in nature. These beings only lived by their instincts, and lacked the sentience the Spirits had wished for. Genbu spent many years trying to find a solution, and he asked his brethren to hurl their powers into the world to rid it of the beasts they had created, but Seiryu refused, believing all life precious. Genbu said that he himself shed tears, being the father of life, but if the beings continued to be, then their new creation might not be able to survive. The Spirits then worked together, and purged the lands of what had been created, the only remains of what once was being bones.
Genbu continued to work on his process, and believed he had it perfected, but had no idea which of the species should be brought supremacy. A solution was to come.
Suzaku was a powerful Spirit, and one of his powers came to him to solve the problem. He foresaw a future with magnificent cities, intelligence and a pure way of life. Suzaku went to Genbu and told him of his vision, and upon inspecting the details, Genbu saw that the creatures Suzaku had seen were similar to the warm-blooded beings called mammals. Genbu implemented his powers on the species, making it stronger and more intelligent. They started out with a lack of intelligence, and Genbu began to grow suspicious as the long millenia went by, his impatience starting to mount, despite he being the most patient.
But as time went on, the species also grew different. Their physical make up changed, and they apparently showed signs of intelligence. They began to hunt the other creations of the Spirits, showing Genbu the early life cycle was taking effect. They also showed some talent by making drawings from primitive materials in their dwellings. Genbu began to smile, apparently this creation had the skills the first did not.
The Spirits watched as the beings grew smarter and smarter, developing farming and buildings, establishing the first cities, and Genbu finally stated to his brothers that it was time to reveal themselves to their children.
A young peasant named Nazomi lay asleep in her bed as a cold draft entered her home. Genbu had arrived in the city, explaining the odd snowfall that had befallen the town. He sat near her bed, leaning over and speaking into her ear, sewing his words into her dreams. After he had said everything that needed to be said, he bade her farewell, rising back into the heavens.