The Great Mirror
The Great Mirror or Ōkagami (大鏡) is a Japanese historical tale by an unknown author that covers from 850 to 1025, the golden days of Fujiwara family's rule. It is said to be a succession to records of Eiga Monogatari.
In the tale, the writer listened to the conversation mainly led by a 190-year-old man Ōyake no Yotsugi (大宅世継), who recalled the past. A 180-year old man Natsuyama no Shigeki (夏山繁樹) added comments and a young samurai put questions to the two men. This style makes the story vivid and allows to add various opinions and criticisms naturally.
The structure is modelled after traditional Chinese history books like the Records of the Grand Historian. It consists of Preface, Stories of Emperors, Stories of Ministers, Miscellaneous Stories and Post-fin.
This and three other tales with mirror (鏡) in their titles are collectively called four mirrors (四鏡).
[edit] See also
- Imakagami
- Mizukagami
- Masukagami
- Azuma Kagami, a much later work outside the 4 mirrors.
[edit] External links
- J－Texts (日本文学電子図書館) Online texts of the mirror books(Japanese)
- Manuscript scans at Waseda University Library: 6 volumes (unknown date), 1891 (8 volumes, Kume Motobume)
