The is a historical text purported to have been compiled in 681

681

Year 681 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 681 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* The Bulgars under Asparukh win...

. The text is no longer extant.

Background

According to the Nihon Shoki

Nihon Shoki

The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...

:

On the seventeenth day, the emperor, residing in his place in the Daigokuden, commanded Prince Kawashima, Prince Osakabe [etc...] to record a definitive edition of the Teiki and Jōko Shoji.

According to the Kojiki

Kojiki

is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

 preface, Emperor Tenmu said:

What I hear is that the Teiki and Honji brought about by the many houses already differ from the truth and contain many inaccuracies. Should those mistakes not be corrected now, the original meaning will be lost within but a few years. They are the basis of the national system and are the foundation of the imperial government. Thus, I would like to carefully examine the Teiki and Kyūji, remove the errors, and establish the truth for future generations.

He then had Hieda no Are

Hieda no Are

is primarily known for being instrumental to the compilation of the Japanese text Kojiki in 712. While birth and date are unknown, Are was active during the late 7th and early 8th century.-Background:Very little is known about Are's background...

 memorize the contents of the Teiki and Kyūji

Kyuji

, also known as and , is an ancient Japanese historical text. Its existence is recorded in the Kojiki which claims to have been composed based on its contents...

, both of which were later used as historical sources for composing the Kojiki

Kojiki

is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

.

Title

The actual title of the text is unknown due to orthographic difficulties of old Japanese texts. The reading Teiki is taken from the onyomi reading. In addition, traditional Japanese readings include Sumera Mikoto no Fumi and Sumerogi no Fumi. All literally mean "Imperial Chronicle".

The Kojiki preface makes reference to two other titles: and . Both are alternative names for the Teiki.

Contents

As the text no longer exists, very little is actually known about it. The general view is that the Teiki described the imperial line. One theory claims that was a genealogy of the imperial line recording the reigns of each emperor. Another theory, based on the literal title, claims that it was a record of imperial accomplishments, but that it would not have been appropriate as a genealogy.

A competing theory identifies the second and third volume of the Kojiki as the actual contents of the Teiki. And yet another speculates that the Teiki and Kyūji were not two separate texts, but was rather a single unified text.