REKIHAKU

No.131 A Witness to History

Diaries from the Middle Ages

Diaries written in the Middle Ages did not record the personal affairs of individuals, but as records that documented the details of ceremonies, events and other court business they were compiled to be read by following generations. These diaries describing court business first appeared about the time of Emperor Uda. Because the running of the state was conducted by means of ceremonies and events, the emperor's secretary and archivist, called a " kurodo," wrote a diary of court affairs. In the " Juchugunyo," which described the duties of a kurodo, Emperor Uda commanded that a palace diary include " accounts of one's duties, on all matters regardless of importance, discreetly, and without omissions." Thus, kurodo and diarists called " geki" wrote diaries on palace affairs, while the emperor himself also kept a diary.

Photo 1 Gouda-in Diary	Photo 2 "Inokuma Kanpaku Ki" of Konoe Iezane

However, during the time of regency politics that followed, when the affairs of state were controlled by others, specific noble families assumed the tasks of running regional governments and the administration of central government. Under this system, certain families were responsible for undertaking certain duties. The positions of "sessho" (regent to an underage emperor) and "kanpaku" (chancellor) fell to members of the "Sekkan-ke" family of the Fujiwara clan, the positions of Konoe-daisho and minister were filled by members of the Koga, Sanjo and Saionji families, which were ranked as "Seika-ke" families one rank below, while families belonging to the "Mei-ke" group, such as the Hino, Kajuji and Heishi families, were appointed to the positions of "benkan" (secretary), kurodo and "dainagon" (chief councilor). In this way, the position of a court noble was determined according to the ranking of his family. Separate conventions and practices ("saho") were prescribed for each family status, with "Tenno Saho" for the Emperor, "Denka no Saho" for those in "Sekkan" positions, and "Kanchu no Saho" for benkan, or secretaries, with each family compiling its own diary accordingly. Hence, from the Emperor down to ordinary court families of "Urin-ke" and Mei-ke" status, conventions and descriptions of goings on were recorded in diaries and passed down to successive generations.

Photo 3 January 25, 1233 entry in the "Tsunemitsu Kyoki" (Diary of Tsunemitsu)	*"Details are written in the "rekki" (excerpt)"
Photo 4 January 25, 1233 entry in the "Tsunemitsu Kyorekki" *	*Excerpt from "Tsunemitsu Kyorekki"

The Museum has in its collection a diary of an imperial family called " Go-Udai-In Nikki" (photo 1). Of the original diary, only those parts recording Buddhist rites and events that took place at Touji temple were excised from the diary and given to the temple, where they have been passed down as a treasure. As for diaries of " Sekkan-ke" family members, the Museum has in its collection the " Inokuma Kanpaku Ki" of Konoe Iezane (photo 2) and the " Shinjin-in Kanpaku Ki" written by Konoe Motohira. In the Muromachi period, Konoe Masaie used the paper on the reverse side of the " Guchu-reki" (lit. calendar diaries with notes) of Konoe Iezane dating from the Kamakura period to write about the Buddhist ritual of September 20, 1465 called the " Sento Gohako," and thus the " Inokuma Kanpaku Ki" was passed down and survives today. In original diaries it was quite common to use the blank spaces in the calendar, and these writings are referred to as " rekki" (lit. " calendar diaries" ). The oldest diary written by a court noble is the " Mido Kanpaku Ki" of Fujiwara Michizane, and this too is a " rekki," As a result, for a period after the Second World War, it was thought that court nobles of the Middle Ages wrote daily entries (" hinamiki" ) based on these " rekki," and good copies were made later which were passed on to their descendents. However, as research advanced on the diaries of " Mei-ke" families such as the Kajuji and Hino-Hiroshashi families, it became evident that diaries were compiled in a complex manner. During the Muromachi period, Hirohashi family members took on the position of " denso" , which was that of an intermediary serving as a link between the imperial family and the Muromachi palace, and during the Kamakura period as a " Kadeno-koji" family its members held kurodo and benkan positions (secretaries and archivists), and were a " Mei-ke" family whose highest possible rank was that of " gon-chunagon." Fujiwara Yorisuke was the first generation of Kadeno-koji family and Tsunemitsu, Kanenaka, and Mitsunari of the family left behind diaries that had been written by themselves. Photo 3 is a photo of the January 25, 1233 entry in " Tsunemitsu Kyoki" (Diary of Tsunemitsu), where it is written, " details are written in the 'rekki'." Photo 4 shows the " Tsunemitsu Kyorekki" entry for January 25,1233, which does indeed include a detailed description. In this way, " rekki" and " hinamiki" diaries were written parallel to one another. It is clear, however, that while both personal matters and those of public record are described in " rekki," the events of actual working days are recorded in " hinamiki," whose character is clearly that of an official record. Photo 5 is a photo of old documents that were pasted onto the July 10, 1478 entry of " Kaneaki Kyoki." These documents are originals of a letter in kana script (letter and addendum) addressed to Udaibensaisho, and a receipt for the " Kubo okura momii daikan Mori Gorosaemon nyudo Joman." Examples of pasting original official documents like these to diaries is common in the diaries of those in shikiji benkan and denso positions This is because the nature of diaries of the Middle Ages was largely that of diaries that recorded and passed down administrative formalities related to the running of the government of the day. As for the Hirohashi family and the Kujuji and Takamune branches of the Heishi family, since they were families that held shikiji benkan positions, the diaries they wrote inherited the tradition of compiling " denjo" diaries written by former kurodo. It can be said that as well as being family documents, diaries written in the Middle Ages were also diaries of official court business.

Photo 5
July 10, 1478 entry in "Kaneaki Kyoki."
Administrative documents - letter, addendum and receipt -
based on court functions have been pasted to the diary for succeeding generations.

There are very few cases in which the original diaries of noble families from the Middle Ages were passed down to their descendents. During the Edo period, there was an extremely large number of diaries that were passed down after having been transcribed by the imperial palace and families such as the Maeda and Mito families. Research on the Higashiyama Gobunko (library in the imperial palace in Kyoto) and the Takamatsunomiya books held in the Museum's own collection has shown that during the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, the imperial family made an effort to collect, transcribe and preserve the diaries of the various families. The furthest this goes back is to the retired Emperor Goshirakawa. An edict was issued from the Goshirakawa Palace in 1174 that ordered Kiyohara Yorinari, Nakahara Morohisa and others who held the position of "inno fudononoshu" to collect and transcribe the "documents of this reign and the diaries of the various families." These were stored in the Renge Ouin storehouse. The imperial palace was burnt down numerous times during the period of civil war that occurred during the Onin and Bunmei periods, which left a shortage of records that could be used for carrying out the various official rites and ceremonies. The restoration of such records became a matter of urgency for the imperial family. The Gotsuchimkado, Gokashiwara, Gonara and Oogimachi emperors established an office called the "banshujo," and work was undertaken to enhance the imperial library with copies made by transcribing diaries that had survived the period of civil war that had been gifted, borrowed and copied by court nobles. Some of these are to be found in the "Takamatsunomiya-ke Denrai Kinri Hon" held in the Museum's collection. Photo 6 is a photo of one of these, the "Sanseki no Ki." It is a transcription of a record of a Sanseki ceremony held at the imperial palace on August 19, 1410 that was copied by Chuin Michisue on July 20, 1484 and transcribed again during the Edo period. The transcription activities undertaken by the imperial palace during the Sengoku period served the basis for the establishment of the imperial library during the Early Modern period. There are many such examples. The "Koen Burui-no-Ki" in the Takamatsunomiya books (photo 7) is an abridged version of 16 family diaries from the "Koen Waka Burui" (photo 8) held in the collection of the Hirohashi family. A look at the "burui-ki" diaries in the Hirohashi books reveals that they contain abridged records of the diaries of 41 families, including "ki wo shirazu" (lit. "not known who wrote") diaries. One of these, the "Senki," is the same as the "Sento Waka Gokai no Ki" (photo 9) held in the Hirohashi family collection.

Photo 6 "Sanseki no Ki" in the Takamatsunomiya books	Photo 7 "Koen Burui no Ki" in the Takamatsunomiya books	Photo 8 "Koen Waka Burui" held in the collection of the Hirohashi family, a different version of "Koen Burui no Ki"

In this way, the court nobles of the Middle Ages cooperated with one another to collect a large number of family diaries, compiled "burui-ki" diaries on daily events and writings on conventions and practices, and repeatedly copied and transcribed these records. One might even say that the transcription of the diaries of court nobles of the Middle Ages by the imperial palace during the Muromachi, Sengoku and Edo periods was an accumulation of knowledge on the scale of a state undertaking. We may conclude, therefore, that the diaries we are able to look at today represent the efforts of noble families for succeeding generations and a state-instituted systematic response for the collection of knowledge.

Photo 9 "Senki"	Photo 9 ("Sento Waka Gokai no Ki")

Kesao Ihara (Medieval Japanese History, Research Department)