Why was Prince Shotoku's support for buddhism important?

Prince Shotoku was a devout Buddhist. Many of his policies were inspired based on Buddhism. In government, Buddhist teachings were the reason behind his creation of a centralized government. In literature, he is the author of the Sangyo Gisho or "The Annotated Commentaries of the Three Sutras". Though he is called the founder of Japanese Buddhism, he also respected the Shinto religion which is also popular in Japan. He is said to have visited Shinto shrines before he would go to Buddhist shrines.