Mido Kanpakuki (fourteen autograph volumes and twelve volumes in copies)

The World's Oldest Autograph Diary

The Mido Kanpakuki (fourteen autograph volumes and twelve volumes in copies) (御堂関白記〈自筆本十四巻／写本十二巻〉) is fourteen autograph scrolls and twelve copied scrolls of the Mido Kanpakuki, the diary of Fujiwara no Michinaga of the Heian period, owned by the Yomei Bunko in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, which in 1951 were designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records 26 scrolls owned by the Yomei Bunko Foundation.

UNESCO records its inscription on the Memory of the World Register in 2013.

The Diary

According to UNESCO, the Mido Kanpakuki consists of Michinaga's original diary and an early transcription made in the second half of the eleventh century. Michinaga was the most influential figure at the imperial court from the late tenth to the early eleventh century, achieving great wealth and prosperity through his political and economic power.

UNESCO describes it as the world's oldest autograph diary and a personal record of a historically important person.

What to Look For

UNESCO notes that it vividly records political, economic, social, cultural, religious and international events at the centre of power in the Heian period, when Japanese court culture reached its peak, making it extremely significant for both Japanese and world history.

With both the autograph scrolls and early copies surviving, one can see Michinaga's own hand as well as the diary as a whole.

Visiting the Mido Kanpakuki (fourteen autograph volumes and twelve volumes in copies)

The diary is owned by the Yomei Bunko and is not on regular display; watch for exhibition announcements.