Shoku Nihongi

The Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀) is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the Six National Histories, coming directly after the Nihon Shoki and followed by Nihon Kōki. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as the primary editors. It is one of the most important primary historical sources for information about Japan's Nara period.

The work covers the 95-year period from the beginning of Emperor Monmu's reign in 697 until the 10th year of Emperor Kanmu's reign in 791, spanning nine imperial reigns. It was completed in 797 AD.[1]

The text is forty volumes in length. It is primarily written in kanbun, a Japanese form of Classical Chinese, as was normal for formal Japanese texts at the time.[2] However, a number of "senmyō" 宣命 or "imperial edicts" contained within the text are written in a script known as "senmyō-gaki", which preserves particles and verb endings phonographically.[3]

References

1. Bender, Ross (March 2009), "Performative Loci of Shoku Nihongi Edicts, 749–770", Journal of Oral Tradition, 24 (1), pp. 249–268
2. Rikkokushi (『六国史』), by Tarō Sakamoto (坂本太郎) (Yoshikawa Kobunkan (吉川弘文館), 1970, republished 1994)
3. Motosawa, Masafumi (2007-03-28). "Senmyō". Encyclopedia of Shinto. Retrieved 2012-02-27.

External links

• Kubota, Jun (2007). Iwanami Nihon Koten Bungaku Jiten (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 978-4-00-080310-6.
• Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten: Kan'yakuban [A Comprehensive Dictionary of Classical Japanese Literature: Concise Edition]. Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten. 1986. ISBN 4-00-080067-1.
• Text of the Shoku Nihongi (Japanese)
• Further information and text of the Shoku Nihongi at Japanese Historical Text Initiative
• manuscript scans at Waseda University Library