Kogo Shūi (古語拾遺) is a historical record of the Inbe clan. It was composed by Inbe no Hironari in 807.
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Historically, both the Inbe and Nakatomi clans had long performed religious services for the court. However, at the beginning of the Heian period, the Fujiwara clan, whom the Nakatomi clan are a branch of, seized political power. This strengthened the Nakatomi clan while weakening the Inbe clan and caused conflict between the two clans.
Hironari wrote this text to clarify the history and legitimize the rights of the Inbe clan as well as to argue the injustice of the Nakatomi clan and decline of the Inbe clan. He presented it to Emperor Heizei in 807.
The text consists of three major sections:
The first two sections serve as evidence and reference for legitimatizing the third and main section.
The historical events described within the text are nearly identical with those found in Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. However, there are several events unique to this text so it serves as a supplement to the national histories.
Linguistically, the text contains a large number of old words written in man'yōgana which make it a valuable resource for studying Old Japanese.
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