Written in
Classical Chinese and contained within fifty volumes, the contents cover a span of thirty years from 858 to 887 corresponding to three imperial reigns:
Seiwa,
Yōzei, and
Kōkō. It contains many imperial edicts and is more detailed compared to the earlier texts. Particularly famous is a description of
Ariwara no Narihira. Parts of volume 15, and volumes 19 to 48 have been omitted in surviving maunscripts. Also described is
an earthquake in July 869 and a tsunami that flooded the plains of northeast Japan: “The sea soon rushed into the villages and towns, overwhelming a few hundred miles of land along the coast. There was scarcely any time for escape, though there were boats and the high ground just before them. In this way about 1,000 people were killed.” These were the same plains that were submerged in the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, according to one account. "Analysis of sediments left by the 869 tsunami led to an estimate that the earthquake had a magnitude of 8.3." ==Final National History==