Kyureki (The Diary of FUJIWARA no Morosuke) (九暦)
The Kyureki is a diary by Minister of the Right FUJIWARA no Morosuke, a court noble in the mid-Heian period and the ancestor of the Kujo lineage, one of the styles of court protocol. Along with the "Teishinko-ki," the diary of his father FUJIWARA no Tadahira, and "Rihoo ki," the diary of Shikibu-kyo (the Highness of Ceremonial), Imperial Prince Shigeakira, it is an important historical source for knowing the political history of the mid-Heian period.
Because Morosuke lived on Kujo Avenue and his highest office was minister of the right, there are various names for it such as "Diary of the Kujo Minister of the Right," "The Kujo (Ninth Avenue) Diary" or "Kyuki" (The Ninth Diary). The name "Kyureki" was given in posterity by combining the 'nine' (ku/kyu) from Kujo (the ninth avenue) and 'calendar' (reki) from guchureki (a kind of almanac-like calendar), as many diaries were kept in guchureki in those days.
Because the original diary has been lost, we can learn what was written in it from an abridgement of entries from 947 to 949 and from 957 to 960 ("Kyureki sho"), classified records of grand banquets, the Sweet-Flag Festivals and Josen Tanzaku (special strips of paper announcing official promotions) from 932 to 960 ("Kujo-dono ki"), records of the ordinances of his father Tadahira from 936 to 946 ("Kyurekiki" (The Ordinances of Teishinko)), a fragmentary text of this diary describing things in 941 ("Kyureki dankan"), and fragments seen in "Saikyuki" and "Shoyuki" (from 930) to 960).
Although the period of record is not clear since the complete diary is not extant, considering the state of the remaining abridgements and fragments, the diary is thought to have been kept from the eighth year of Encho, when Morosuke was 23 years old, up to his death in the fourth year of Tentoku. There is a description of his 'renouncing the world' among the entries of the fourth year of Tentoku in the "Kyureki sho" ("Kyureki," in Dai-Nihon Kokiroku (Old Diaries of Japan), page 29). The date of Morosuke's becoming a monk is confirmed to have been on June 3, 960 by the "Nihon kiryaku" (Abstracted Records of Japan) etc., although the date is missing in the text. The fact that Morosuke died on June 5 of the same year tells us that he kept writing his diary until two days before his death.
What follows is a summary of the locations of the manuscripts.
"Kyureki sho"…Imperial Household Archives, National Archives of Japan, Interior Department, University of Tokyo Library and Kyoto University Library
"Kujo-dono ki"…Tenri Central Library (Kujo-ke manuscript, an Important Cultural Property)
"Kyurekiki" (The Ordinances of Teishinko)…Yomei bunko, Imperial Household Archives (the Takatsukasa manuscript)
"Kyureki dankan"…the book in Mr. Kaido TANAKA's collection (the first page of a folding book), the book in Mr. Chikukei MIYAMOTO's collection (the second to fifth pages of a folding book)
A typeset block-printed version is collected in "Dai-Nihon Kokiroku" (Old Diaries of Japan) and "Zoku Zoku Gunsho Ruiju" (Classified collections of Japanese classics: Second supplement)(only Kyureki sho). "Tenri Central Library Zenbon Sosho" (Rare Manuscript Series) has a reproduction of the manuscript of "Kujo-dono ki" in it.