Chikanaga-kyo ki (The Diary of Chikanaga KANROJI) (親長卿記)
Chikanaga-kyo ki is the diary of Chikanaga KANROJI, a court noble in the late Muromachi period. It is a valuable historical source for knowing about the political circumstances and the trends of society and the economy at that time.
The period of description starts from September 26, 1470, and the entries from then up to August and September 1499 survive. It is recorded at the beginning of what remains of the diary that earlier parts of the diary dating back to before 1467 were destroyed in a fire during the Onin War. Near the end of the diary, in the entry for October 11, 1497, is written, 'I will not write down anymore from now on, except a little about inquiries from the emperor and the like from time to time, if there are any,' and there are only brief entries sporadically found for the rest of the year and the next year. There also remain several kinds of separate notes.
The author Chikanaga KANROJI was a man who drew his sword and fought back in the Kinketsu Incident of 1443, when retainers set adrift by the downfall of the Southern Court (Japan) intruded into the court and tried to take the three Imperial regalia by force. He was a man of great learning and well-versed in court lore, deeply trusted by Emperor Gohanazono and his successor Emperor Gotsuchimikado, and served as Kamo Messenger (a messenger from Kamo-jinja Shrine to the Emperor) for a long time. From such a career, the diary has detailed entries about conflicts between the Kamo-jinja Shrines, the Great Thanksgiving Festival in 1466 that in fact became the last such festival held in the medieval period, the relationship between court aristocrats and warriors (Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun)), the circumstances of the Onin War, what the frequently-occurring do-ikki (uprisings of cultivators and other commoners) were like, and the ordinary life of court nobles, etc., so it is an important historical source to know about this period.
It is included in "Zoho Shiryo Taisei."