Tamonin Nikki (多聞院日記)
"Tamonin Nikki" (Tamonin Diary), written in Tamonin tatchu (a sub-temple on the site of a main temple) in Kofuku-ji Temple, Nara, was kept for 140 years (from 1478 to 1618) by the authors for three generations, including the monk Eishun.
Summary
Tamonin Nikki is a diary with notes mainly on the lives of people in the temple and daily activities. It also contains fragmentary but important information about the state of Kinki region, particularly Nara Prefecture, during the turbulent times starting from the end of the Muromachi period, through the Warring States period and the Azuchi-Momoyama period, up to the early Edo period (including both the winter and summer campaigns of the Siege of Osaka).
In addition, it includes the argument that the reason for the sword hunt, supposedly to collect metal to be used for the Daibutsu-den Hall (the Great Buddha Hall) in the Hoko-ji Temple, was actually to quell uprisings. It also describes the brewing methods of "sake" (Japanese rice wine) such as "dan-jikomi" (the process of mixing the main ingredients), "morohaku-zukuri" (how to make sake from 100% white rice) and "hi-ire" (pasteurization). These methods developed alongside the brewing of "sobo-shu"(sake brewed in major temples) at the end of the Middle Ages.