''Ōkagami'' () is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

historical tale written in around 1119 by an unknown author. It covers the period 850 to 1025, the golden days of the Fujiwara family's rule. It is said to be a successor (世継物語, ''yotsugi monogatari'') with the records of the

Eiga Monogatari is a Japanese ''monogatari'' which relates events in the life of courtier Fujiwara no Michinaga. It is believed to have been written by a number of authors, over the course of roughly a century, from 1028 to 1107. It is notable for giving high c ...

. In the tale, the writer listens to a conversation mainly led by a 190-year-old man, Ōyake no Yotsugi (大宅世継, literally "world-successor"), who recalls the past. A 180-year-old man, Natsuyama no Shigeki (夏山繁樹), adds comments and a young

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

puts questions to these two elders. This narrative strategy makes the story vivid and allows for the natural addition of various opinions and criticisms. The structure is modelled after traditional Chinese history books like ''the

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

''. It consists of Preface, Stories of Emperors, Stories of Ministers, Miscellaneous Stories and Post-fin. This and three other tales with ''mirror'' (鏡 ''kagami'', also read ''kyō'') in their titles are collectively called four mirrors (四鏡 ''shikyō'').

Translations

There are two translations into English: * ''The Ōkagami: A Japanese Historical Tale'', translated by Joseph K. Yamagiwa, with a foreword by Edwin O. Reischauer, London: Allen & Unwin, 1967. 488 pp. Reprint

Tuttle Tuttle may refer to: Places Canada * Tuttle, Alberta United States * Tuttle, Arkansas * Tuttle, California * Tuttle, Colorado * Tuttle, Oklahoma * Tuttle, North Dakota Other uses * "Tuttle" (''M*A*S*H''), a 1973 episode from the television ser ...

1997 * ''Ōkagami: The Great Mirror: Fujiwara Michinaga (966-1027) and His Times - A Study and Translation'', by Helen Craig McCullough, Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...

, 1980. .Delmer M. Brown ''The Cambridge History of Japan'' Volume 1 1993 - Page 535 "As

Helen McCullough Helen Craig McCullough (February 17, 1918 – April 6, 1998) was an American academic, translator and Japanologist. She is best known for her 1988 translation of ''The Tale of the Heike''. Early life McCullough was born in California. She graduat ...

noted in the introduction to her translation of the Okagami, the authors of Heian period tales distinguished between personal qualities that had a life-affirming Japanese character — identified with such words as tamashii ..."

References

External links

J－Texts (日本文学電子図書館)
Online texts of the mirror books *Manuscript scans at

Waseda University Library The collections of Waseda University Library (早稲田大学図書館; ''Waseda Daigaku Toshokan'') form one of the largest libraries in Japan. Established in 1882, they currently hold some 5.6 million volumes and 46,000 serials. History The W ...

6 volumes
(unknown date)

(8 volumes, Kume Motobume) {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Mirror, The Late Old Japanese texts Heian period in literature Monogatari 12th-century Japanese books History books of the Heian Period

Translations

See also

References

External links