Table of Contents

Translator's Preface

Translator's Introduction

Author's Preface

1. Introduction

2. Nihon Shoki

3. Shoku Nihongi

4. Nihon Koki

5. Shoku Nihon Koki

6. Nihon Montoku Tenno Kitsuroko

7. Nihon Montoku Tenno Kitsuroku

8. Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku

9. Afterword

10. Conclusion

Appendices

Notes

Original Text Index

General Index

Promotional Information

An authoritative study of Japan's first scholarly works and amodern classic, it is now translated into English for the firsttime.

About the Author

Sakamoto Taro (1901-87) was Professor of AncientHistory at the University of Tokyo and head of its HistoriographicalInstitute. He was a prolific writer, publishing more than 200 books andarticles on ancient Japanese history. John S. Brownlee(translator) is an associate professor of Japanese history at theUniversity of Toronto.

Reviews

The Six National Histories of Japan is a useful addition to the growing body of English-language scholarship on early Japan. Sakamoto's detailed account of the contents and compilation process of the rikkokushi offers unique insights into the workings of the imperial government in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries. Brownlee's translation now makes this seminal study and reference volume available to beginning students and general readers as well as to specialists.
*Monumenta Nipponica*

A superb translation of a meticulous exegesis of the Six National Histories, compiled as separate accounts from 681 to 901.
*Choice*

... his book is not only a rich compendium of information about these particular texts, but a work on premodern historiography that will reward the attention of professional historians in a wide variety of fields outside Japan.
*Journal of Japanese Studies*