Chinese Book - Kanjo

A historical book that records the history of the Western Han Dynasty. It is the same as the Book of the Former Han. It was written by Ban Gu (32-92), a native of Fufeng Anling (east of Xianyang, Shaanxi Province) during the Eastern Han Dynasty. As Zhao Yi, a scholar of historical research during the Qing Dynasty, said, "It took four people 30 to 40 years to complete," Ban Gu wrote this work over 20 years ago, but it is based on the 64 volumes of the Later Records of the Grand Historian written by his father Ban Biao, and the eight chronologies and astronomy records were added after Ban Gu's death by his sister Ban Zhao and the classical Chinese scholar Ma Xu. Like the Records of the Grand Historian, it is a chronicle-style work, but rather than a general history, it is a disjunctive history that only describes one dynasty, and this format was passed down as a model for later official histories. Events before Emperor Wu are mostly based on the Records of the Grand Historian, but there are many new ideas and original Confucian-style commentary, and there have been many discussions of its superiority over the Records of the Grand Historian since ancient times. The current version consists of 120 volumes, including 13 annals, 10 tables, 18 records, and 79 biographies. The passage in the Records of Geography, "There are Wajin in the sea of ​​Rakuro...", is the oldest record relating to Japan.

[Isamu Ogata]

"The Book of Han, translated by Takeo Odake (1979, Chikuma Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、前漢一代のことを記した歴史書。『前漢書』と同じ。後漢(ごかん)の扶風安陵(ふふうあんりょう)（陝西(せんせい)省咸陽(かんよう)市の東）の人、班固(はんこ)（32―92）の撰著(せんちょ)。清(しん)朝の考証(こうしょう)学者趙翼(ちょうよく)の言に「四人の手を経て、三、四〇年を閲(へ)て始めて完成した」とあるとおり、班固20余年の著作ではあるが、父の班彪(はんぴょう)が『史記』の続編として書いた『後伝(こうでん)』64編が基礎となっており、八つの年表と天文志の部分は、班固の死後、妹の班昭(はんしょう)と経学者馬続(ばしょく)の手で補われたものである。『史記』と同じく紀伝体の史書であるが、通史ではなく、王朝一代に限って叙述した断代史であり、この形式は、後の正史の模範とされて受け継がれた。武帝以前のことはおおむね『史記』によるが、随所に新しいくふうと儒家らしい独自の論述があり、古来『史記』との優劣を論じたものは多い。現行本は本紀13、表10、志18、列伝79の120巻。なお、地理志の「楽浪(らくろう)海中に倭人(わじん)あり……」の一文は、日本に関する最古の記録である。

［尾形　勇］

『小竹武夫訳『漢書』（1979・筑摩書房）』

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