The New Compilation of the Register of Families

• Japanese: 新撰姓氏録 (shinsen shouji roku)

"The New Compilation of the Register of Families," or Shinsen shôji roku, completed in 815, is an imperial compilation of genealogies. It consists of 30 volumes, covering 1,182 family genealogies, and is divided into three sections, beginning with descendants of heavenly and earthly deities, followed by a genealogy of the Imperial lineage, and concluding with some number of genealogies of prominent Chinese and Korean lineages.

The preface to the compilation, written in the form of a memorial to the throne, begins with a brief summary of the origins of the Imperial dynasty, as Emperor Jimmu pacified various chiefdoms and claimed control of the islands. It continues by noting periods in Imperial history when foreigners came to be given Japanese names, and incidents in which genealogical records were lost or confused. The author notes that as foreigners were given Japanese names, even in only the few generations since their immigration (the author points to the 750s in particular, a mere 60 years before his own time), the distinction as to who is descended from aliens and who is not had already grown unclear, and that there was concern over people claiming more elite ancestry than was true. This problem is made all the more serious by the loss of earlier genealogical documentation. Thus, the author writes, great efforts have been made to "sift the gold from the pebbles," and to recompile accurate genealogies.

References

• William Theodore de Bary, Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol 1, Second Edition, Columbia University Press (2001), 95-97.