Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/576

556 court. There are 214 books devoted to the ordinary transactions of the year, the remainder to the kagura, or ancient pantomimic plays performed in honor of the "three divine emblems," praying for rain and fine weather, the accession and abdication of the sovereign, the harvest festival, imperial journeys, the ceremony called gembuku (coming of age) of the mikado, the commencement of his studies, his nuptials, births in the imperial family, the mikado's concubines, the change of style (kaigen), the forms used in imperial decrees and proclamations, appointment of ministers of state, memorials to the throne, and other kindred subjects. Probably the only copy in existence is that in the public library at Tokio. One president, 15 compilers, 28 scribes, 10 readers, 4 accountants, and 3 overseers were engaged upon it for six hours every other day during 24 years, from 1686 to 1710. Nearly all the works called Kiroku, or (family) records, are in manuscript. That of the five noble families called Sekke begins with the reign of Murakami Tenno (946–'67), and occupies 210 volumes. It is called the Huiami no Ki. There are many more, some of even older date, which would be valuable materials for the historian. The Japanese attach great importance to lineage, and there are several large works on genealogy, the earliest of which is the Shinsen Shoji Roku, prepared in 815; the best edition is that published at Kioto in 1807, in 4 volumes. The earliest specimen of this kind of writing is the Shotoku Taishi Denriaku, in 2 books, by Taira no Motochika, written in 992. It is the life of M'mayado no Oji, eldest son of Yomei Tenno (573–621), who was the main instrument in the spread of Buddhism in Japan. An annotated edition, called Taishi Denriaku Biko, in 15 volumes, was published in 1678 by the priest Rioi. Of the famous statesman and historian Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), afterward deified under the name of Temman-Gu, many biographies have been written. The earliest is the Kuanke Godenki, a Chinese work in one volume, by his relative Nobutsune, which is certainly of not later date than 1118. The Dazaifu Temma-gu Kojitsu, in 2 volumes, by Kaibara Tokushin (1630–1714), relates his life, deification, and subsequent history; it seems to have been written about 1685. The Kuanke Jitsuroku, in Japanese, by Matsumoto Guzan (3 vols., 1798), contains much introductory matter about his ancestry, with his life, exile, death, burial, and deification. But the most complete of all his biographies is the Kitano Koso, by Ishida Jihei (1840), containing 4 volumes of engravings from ancient drawings illustrative of events in his life, and 10 volumes of extracts from original documents. The Saigio Monogatari is a life of the poet Saigio Hoshi (died 1198), in Japanese, by an unknown author, and contains a large quantity of the verses made by him on various occasions. It was first printed in 1562. The Muso Koku (3 vols.) is the life of the Buddhist priest Muso Kokushi (1275–1351), founder of the monastery of Tenriuji at Saga, near Kioto. Eight or nine priests seem to have shared its authorship, one of whom was the third abbot of Tenriuji, so that it cannot be of later date than the end of the 14th century. The Genkio Shakusho, in 15 volumes, is a work in Chinese, containing short biographies of over 400 priests, emperors, nobles, and other persons famous for their devotion to Buddhism, and embraces a period of more than 700 years, beginning with the introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century. It was compiled by the priest Koguan, and presented by him to the mikado in 1322. The Fuso Zenrin Sohoden, in 10 volumes (1675), by the priest Kosen, contains the lives of 117 priests of the Zen sect. Other works of a similarly comprehensive nature are: the Hiakushoden (2 vols.), containing accounts of famous warriors and chieftains from the mythological age down to Shibata Katsuiye and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, by Hayashi Doshun and his sons, Shunsai and Shuntoku; Utsunomiya Yuteki's Nihon Kokin Jimbutsushi (7 vols., 1668), containing notices of generals, famous families, faithful retainers, traitors, virtuous and intrepid samurai, Chinese scholars, physicians, women, and artists; the Fuso Initsuden (3 vols., 1664), in Chinese, by the priest Gensho (1623–'68), consisting of notices of 75 persons noted for strange and solitary habits; such as Yen no Shokaku, who lived in a cave for 30 years, and made spirits do his bidding; Fushimi no Okina, who lay on the ground for three years with his eyes directed eastward, during the whole of which time he never uttered a word; Kachio no Shonio, who became a monk at the age of seven, and lived for many years tasting food only once in five days, and never spoke; and the Shiradashi no Okina, an old man who was always 70 years of age, and had been so ever since the memory of the living; the Honcho Retsujiden (10 vols., 1655), by Kurozawa Hirotoda, in 10 sections, devoted to famous women since the reign of Korei Tenno (290–215 B. C.); the Honcho Hime-kagami, in 20 vols., by the priest Rioi (1661), a collection of lives of famous women, written for his daughter in Japanese; the Sentetsu Sodan (9 vols., 1816), by Tojo Tagayasu, notices of 72 native Chinese scholars and authors of the 17th and 18th centuries, in Chinese; Kinse Kijinden, lives of about 80 poets and Japanese authors of the 17th and 18th centuries (5 vols., 1790), by Banno Kokei (1733–1806); Shoku Kinse Kijinden (5 vols., 1795), a supplement to the last named work, containing notices of nearly 100 writers, by Mikumi Shiko; and Sentetsu Sodan (4 vols., 1844), by Tokusai Gengi, in Japanese, containing the lives of 20 modern native Chinese scholars and authors. Besides these, the 9th volume of Tamadatuki, by Hirata Atsutane (1780–1843), is occupied by biographies of the famous Shinto revivalists