![Azumakagami 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Azumakagami_03.jpg)
is a Japanese historical chronicle.
The medieval text chronicles events of the
Kamakura Shogunate
The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459.
The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...
from
Minamoto no Yoritomo
was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...
's rebellion against the
Taira clan
The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...
in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in 1266.
[National Archives of Japan][Feng, Wang] The work is also called after the
Later Hōjō family of
Odawara
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Geography
Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western por ...
(
Kanagawa prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...
), in whose possession it used to be
before it was donated to
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
. It originally consisted of 52 chapters, but the 45th is lost. In spite of its many flaws, the document is considered the most important existing document concerning the
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...
.
History
The ''Azuma Kagami'' was compiled after 1266 under the directive of the
Hōjō shikken
The was a titular post held by a member of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate, from 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, and so he was head of the ''bakufu'' (shogunate). It was part of the era referred to as .
During rou ...
(officially a regent to a shōgun, but the ''de facto'' ruler) and is a record in diary form of events occurring in Japan.
Written in a Japanized version of classical Chinese known as , the massive work was incomprehensible to most Japanese until an edition with
furigana
is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana or syllabic characters printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known ...
glosses was published in 1626. It was given in present to
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...
Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603, who obtained the missing section from other daimyos and then ordered the preparation and publication of the Fushimi version of the Azuma Kagami in ''Kokatsujiban'', the old movable-type printing.
This edition in turn became the basis for the present printed editions.
Ieyasu considered the book as the product of historical wisdom, kept it at his side, and consulted it often.
Content
The ''Azuma Kagami'' is an enormously detailed record of different activities centering on the shōgun with almost daily entries that include even notes on the weather.
It used to be considered an official
Kamakura Bakufu
The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459.
The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no ...
diary, but it contains sections about events in distant areas written on the day of occurrence. Such entries are therefore believed to have been added later. Its content goes from the words and the deeds of the shōgun, officials, and military men to poems, literary pieces, descriptions of hunts, banquets and notes on the weather.
It is therefore likely to be a compilation of information about the Hōjō regency period taken from Hōjō,
Adachi and other noble houses archives, plus temple and shrine records.
Predictably, it is heavily biased towards a Hōjō point of view but, because of its painstaking attention to details, it is nonetheless an important document to understand the
Kamakura Bakufu
The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459.
The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no ...
.
Reliability Problems of the ''Azuma Kagami''
As a historical document, the ''Azuma Kagami'' suffers from reliability problems. To begin with, there are unexplained gaps in it, one being for example the three years following the death of Minamoto no Yoritomo. Whether these blanks are scattered and insignificant losses or deliberate and systematic acts of censorship is unclear, and opinions on the subject are divided. There are even dubious allegations that Ieyasu himself ordered the elimination of paragraphs he considered shameful for a famous military leader like Yoritomo.
The book also shows an obvious anti-Minamoto, pro-Hōjō bias. It depicts Hōjō enemies as
Minamoto no Yoriie
was the second ''shōgun'' (1202–1203) of Japan's Kamakura shogunate, and the first son of first shōgun Yoritomo. His Dharma name was Hokke-in-dono Kingo Da'i Zengo (法華院殿金吾大禅閤).
Life
Minamoto no Yoriie was born to Hōjō M ...
and
Kajiwara Kagetoki
was a samurai and retainer of the Kamakura Shogunate during the late Heian and early Kamakura period. He was a spy for Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Genpei War, and a warrior against the Taira clan. He came to be known for his greed and treachery. ...
as evil doers in exaggerated terms.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune
was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles which toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo conso ...
, vice versa, is spoken of very highly, probably because he was hunted down and forced to kill himself by his brother Yoritomo. This partisanship is evident in many other cases throughout the book. For example, the episode of
Shizuka Gozen
Shizuka GozenNote: ''Gozen'' is not a name, but rather an honorific title, usually translated as "Lady", though the title was bestowed upon men on rare occasions as well. (静御前) (1165–1211), or Lady Shizuka, one of the most famous women in ...
, who was captured by Hōjō Tokimasa and forces loyal to Yoritomo and, according to some versions of the story, was forced to dance for the new shōgun at
Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, flatters
Hōjō Masako
was a Japanese politician who exercised significant power in the early years of the Kamakura period, which was reflected by her contemporary sobriquet of the "nun shogun". She was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo, and mother of Minamoto no Yo ...
.
Finally, it contains many factual errors.
Weng Guangping and the ''Wuqi jing bu''
Chinese scholar Weng Guangping (1760–1847) read a copy of the book in China, and found it valuable but marred by errors.
After struggling to obtain a complete copy, he decided to correct, expand and amend it using other Japanese and Chinese texts dealing with Japan.
After seven years of work, in 1814 he finished the ''Wuqi jing bu'', or "Emendations to the ''Azuma Kagami''".
The ''Wuqi jing bu'' had, as far as we know, two editions, one consisting of 28 and the other of 30 chapters, both handwritten.
Because Weng had never been to Japan, the book had major limitations in various areas, but it nonetheless became a valuable introduction to Japan and its culture.
This book has only been reprinted once, by a Japanese publisher.
See also
*
Japanese Historical Text Initiative Japanese Historical Text Initiative (JHTI) is a searchable online database of Japanese historical documents and English translations. It is part of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.
History
Delmer M. Brown ...
References
Further reading
The ''Azumakagami'' National Archives of Japan, accessed on April 4, 2008
Feng Zuozhe and Wang Xiaoqiu. ''Azuma kagami and Wuqi jing bu: Historical Evidence of Sino-Japanese Cultural Interaction'', April 2003 accessed on April 5, 2008
* Fumihiko Gomi. ''Azuma Kagami no Hōhō - Jijitsu to Shinwa ni Miru Chusei'', Yoshikawa Kōbunkan、2000.
* Kazuhiko Satō, Hisashi Taniguchi. ''Azuma Kagami Jiten'', Tokyodō Shuppansha, 2007.
External links
(in Japanese)
{{Authority control
Kamakura period
Japanese chronicles
Early Middle Japanese texts
History books about Japan
Kamakura-period history books