is an annotated text of the Nihon Shoki

Nihon Shoki

The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...

. Compiled by Urabe Kanekata between 1274 and 1301, it is 28 volumes in length.

Contents

The 28 volumes are divided into seven sections:

• volume 1: a commentary introducing the material of the text
• volume 2: a list of kanji and their readings
• volume 3: a collection of items needing further explanation
• volume 4: imperial genealogy
• volumes 5-15: definitions for a selection of words and phrases
• volumes 16-22: a collection of old words and readings
• volumes 23-28: waka
  Waka (poetry)
  Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
  
   poetry

Value

Besides being an important early study of Nihon Shoki, it also includes many full citations from other historical texts, some of which are no longer extant. These include Jōgūki, Nihongi Shiki, Kogo Shūi

Kogo Shui

is a historical record of the Inbe clan. It was composed by Inbe no Hironari in 807.-Background:Historically, both the Inbe and Nakatomi clans had long performed religious services for the court. However, at the beginning of the Heian period, the Fujiwara clan, whom the Nakatomi clan are a branch...

, Tensho

Tensho

was a after Genki and before Bunroku. This period spanned the years from July 1573 through December 1592. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:* 1573 : The new era name was created to mark a number of regional wars...

, Sendai Kuji Hongi, and more than thirty fudoki

Fudoki

are ancient records of the culture and geography of provinces of Japan. They contain agricultural, geographical, historical and mythological records, as well as folklore.Compilation of Fudoki began in 713 and was completed over a 20-year period....

.

In addition, it is a valuable resource to supplement history missing from Kojiki

Kojiki

is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

and Nihon Shoki. The imperial genealogies are important since the genealogies that were once part of Nihon Shoki have since been lost. For example, they clarify the genealogy for Emperor Keitai

Emperor Keitai

, also known as Keitai-okimi, was the 26th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 507–531....

which is lacking in the existing Nihon Shoki.

The collection of definitions and readings for old words are also linguistically valuable.