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日本書紀

Readings

Pinyin: Rìběn shūjì

Wade-Giles: Jih-pen shu-chi

Hangul: 일본서기

Korean MC: Ilbon seogi

Korean MR: Ilpon sŏgi

Katakana: ニホンショキ

Hepburn: Nihon shoki

Nhật bản thư kỷ

Chronicles of Japan

Nara-period compilation of many elements in the guise of history, largely to justify the line of sovereigns. In 720 it was set down by order of (Empress) Genshō 元正天皇 (r. 715–724) in thirty books and another of genealogy (which has not survived), partly to preserve lore that had previously been transmitted orally, partly to emulate Chinese dynastic histories, and partly to claim legitimacy. The work was compiled chiefly by Toneri Shinnō 舍人親王, but from accumulated materials. The personages dealt with are mostly divinities and sovereigns. The material covered is very much like that dealt with in the Kojiki 古事記. That work is more accurate until late portions, but the Nihon Shoki is of special value for continuing longer in time and for fuller treatment of the more recent matters. The two accounts share a number of the same poems, often in differing versions, with neither work consistently giving older or newer versions. Because the Kojiki was set down in the difficult man'yōgana 萬葉假名 but this was written in prestigious kanbun 漢文, the Nihon Shoki was far better known and exists in far older manuscripts. Today there is a general literary preference for the other work, but the two are essential to understanding early Japan. Together they are referred to as kiki 記紀 from their last two characters (the same in sound but different in the left elements) and their poems kiki kayō 記紀歌謠. [resp. Mark Dennis]

generated: 2014-04-22