Writing on annotated calendars
Michinaga wrote in blank spaces on guchūreki calendars and sometimes on their reverse. These calendars already contained seasonal and divinatory annotations, with a year divided into two scrolls. The physical document therefore preserves the working setting of his entries.
Fourteen original scrolls and twelve early transcriptions survive. They cover discontinuous portions of 998–1021, while entries from the beginning in 995 survive in a later excerpt. These materials do not constitute an uninterrupted diary; originals, copies and excerpts have different textual histories.
Court business and wider connections
Entries describe imperial births and family dealings, including the birth of Prince Atsuhira in 1008. Council discussions, imperial instructions and decisions also appear. Descendants could consult such records as precedents for ceremonies and official conduct.
Other passages concern Chinese merchant ships, trade permissions and letters or Buddhist books sent with monks traveling to Song China. The 1007 sutra burial can be compared with surviving objects. Poetry gatherings and kana writing preserve further evidence of court culture, viewed from an exceptionally powerful noble's position.
From family record to documentary heritage
The diary passed through Michinaga's descendants and the Konoe family. Early transcription is associated with the lifetime of his grandson Morozane in the later eleventh century. Yōmei Bunko, founded in 1938, became responsible for its preservation.
It was designated a Japanese National Treasure in 1951 and registered by UNESCO in 2013. Facsimiles, edited print, commentaries and databases widened research access. Paper, mounting, calendar layout and handwriting remain evidence beyond the readable text itself.