Gukanshō

Gukanshō (愚管抄) is a Japanese historical and literary work about the history of the country. The work was written around 1220 by a Buddhist priest. The author's name was Jien.

Jien, the author of Gukanshō (as rendered in a portrait found in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.)

In Gukanshō, Jien created a chronicle of the lives of the emperors. Jien wrote about political and military conflicts within the Imperial court. He wrote about disputes with others outside the court.

Contents

The text is composed of three major sections:

1. Volumes 1 and 2 consist of imperial chronicle beginning with Emperor Jimmu and concluding with Emperor Juntoku.
2. Volumes 3 through 6 present a historical analysis.
3. Volume 7 offers a summary.

Related pages

• Kojiki, 712
• Nihon Shoki, 720
• Jinnō Shōtōki, 1359
• Nihon Ōdai Ichiran, 1652
• Tokushi Yoron, 1712
• Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo
• Historiography
• Philosophy of History

References

• Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
• Brownlee, John S. (1991). Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712). Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0-889-20997-9
• Okami, Masao and Toshihide Akamatsu. (1967). Gukanshō. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten Publishing. ISBN 4-0006-0086-9 (in Japanese)