The term "Shinto" derives from the combination of two Chinese characters: "shen" (神), which means "spirit," and "dao" (道), which means "way", "road" or "path". The Chinese term "Shendao" was originally adopted into Japanese as "Jindō"; this was possibly first used as a Buddhist term to refer to non-Buddhist deities. Among the earliest known appearances of the term "Shinto" in Japan is in the 8th-century text, "Nihon Shoki". Here, it may be a generic term for popular belief, or alternatively reference Taoism, as many Taoist practices had recently been imported from mainland Asia. In these early Japanese uses, the word "Shinto" did not apply to a distinct religious tradition nor to anything uniquely Japanese; the 11th century "Konjaku monogatarishui" for instance refers to a woman in China practicing "Shinto", and also to people in India worshipping "kami", indicating these terms were being used to describe religions outside Japan itself.