The Tosa Diary

The Tosa Diary (Tosa nikki) is a travelogue written in 936 by Ki no Tsurayuki, a prominent Japanese poet and court official of the Heian period. Unlike most male diaries of the time, which were written in Chinese, Tsurayuki composed his diary in Japanese, even attributing it to a woman in his entourage.12

The diary chronicles Tsurayuki's journey back to the capital, Kyōto, from his post as governor of Tosa province. It intersperses accounts of the journey's events with poems composed along the way. A poignant element of the work is its subtle references to the death of Tsurayuki's daughter in Tosa. The Tosa Diary is considered the earliest example of a literary diary in Japanese literature.2