Tokugawa jikki

• Compiled: 1801-1849, Narushima Motonao
• Other Names: 御実記 (O jikki)
• Japanese: 徳川実紀 (Tokugawa jikki)

Tokugawa jikki ("True Record of Tokugawa"), also known simply as Ojikki ("The Record"), is an extensive compilation of records of the reigns of the first ten Tokugawa shoguns. Compiled by Narushima Motonao, it covers events from the founding of the shogunate in 1603 up through 1786.

Compilation was commissioned by the Tokugawa house in 1801, and was completed by 1849, at which time the jikki was formally presented to Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi.

Unlike many other notable official histories, such as the Dai Nihon Shi and Honchô tsûgan, the Tokugawa jikki focuses on the narrative of the Tokugawa house as its chief focus, rather than the imperial line, and is organized into chapters by shogunal reign, rather than imperial reign. Further, where the Honchô tsûgan emphasizes the bestowal of imperial court ranks upon members of the Tokugawa clan, the Tokugawa jikki places primary emphasis on the bestowal of the title of shogun. Still, the emperor is clearly represented as the superior figure, from whom Tokugawa authority and legitimacy derives, and members of the imperial court are named with the suffix -kô meaning "lord," just as members of the Tokugawa house are.

References

• Luke Roberts, Performing the Great Peace, University of Hawaii Press (2012), 175, 179-181.