Nihon Gaishi (historical book on Japan) (日本外史)
Nihon Gaishi is a historical book on Japan, written by Sanyo RAI in the Edo period. The book was presented to Sadanobu MATSUDAIRA (former roju [senior councilor]) who was close to Sanyo in 1827, and published two years later. The book is made up of 22 volumes and written in classical Chinese. At present, three-volume Iwanami paperback edition which changed the Chinese classics into Japanese (bungotai [Japanese literary style]) has been published. Further, several books up to "Volume 14, the Oda clan" are published in modern Japanese by Chuokoron-shinsha, Inc. under the title of "Sanyo RAI Nihon no Meicho [Japanese classic] volume 20."
The book is started from the battle between Seiwa-Genji (Minamoto clan) and Kanmu-Heishi (Taira clan) in the end of Heian period, and the history of various clans, from the Hojo clan, the Kusunoki clan, the Nitta clan, the Ashikaga clan, the Mori clan, the Gohojo clan, the Takeda clan, the Uesugi clan, the Oda clan, the Toyotomi clan, to the Tokugawa clan is described focusing on the rise and fall of the samurai families by dividing the story into each family line (Biographical style.)
Concise descriptions and enthusiastic sentences were very popular, however, it used those war chronicles and so on as reference historical materials and there are some articles found, which are hard to say to be true to the historical facts. In other words, the book can be said one of the origins of those novels that are based on historical materials.
The book greatly influenced the "Revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians" movement and loyalty to the Emperor in the end of Edo period.