Mido Kanpakuki (Diary of a Mido Regent) (御堂関白記)
Mido Kanpakuki is a diary written by FUJIWARA no Michinaga, a court noble who held the titles of Regent and Grand Minister in the Heian period. It is also called "Priest's Calendar," "Mido Records," and "Diary of a Hojoji Regent." It is designated as a national treasure.
The name of Mido Kanpakuki came from the Hojoji Muryojuin Hall, which FUJIWARA no Michinaga built. However, Michinaga never formally took the title of regent, so it is likely that the diary was merely titled Diary of a Mido Regent for posterity.
Mido Kanpakuki is well known as a diary of historical material written by FUJIWARA no Michinaga, but at the same time it has a bad reputation for unclear writing, misspellings, and grammatical errors, which make interpretation difficult. This can also be applied to "Denryaku" written by FUJIWARA no Tadazane of the regent house of Fujiwara and "Gonijo Moromichi-ki" by FUJIWARA no Moromichi, so it seems that the regent family were not particularly adapt at Classical Chinese. Compared with them, the contemporary works "Gonki" by FUJIWARA no Yukinari and "Shoyuki" by FUJIWARA no Sanesuke are well known for their excellent writing and contents.
The diary entries cover the years 998 to 1021, although some of them are missing. But the missing parts can be supplemented by excerpts, so it is possible to read most of them. As there were periods of time when Michinaga didn't keep a diary, not all of the crucial issues of his political attitudes and intentions could have been written in it. The diary is surprisingly simple, and lacks the emotional commentary which the modern reader would expect to find. However, it could be the best historical material we have to understand the official duties and fields of activity of the head of the To clan.
It is also known for recording days of the week based on the seven-day system.
14 volumes of books exist written in his own handwriting.
A modern Japanese translation has not been made yet, and the only existing modern translation is the French one made by a French Japanologist.