Shinsen Shōjiroku

Shinsen Shōjiroku (新撰姓氏録, "New Selection and Record of Hereditary Titles and Family Names") is an imperially commissioned Japanese genealogical record. Thirty volumes in length, it was compiled under the order of Emperor Saga by his brother, the Imperial Prince Manta (万多親王, 788–830). Also by Fujiwara no Otsugu and Fujiwara no Sonohito et al. It was initially completed in 814, but underwent a revision to be recompleted in 815.

The book itself has been lost, but its table of contents and fragments remain. According to the preface, the record contains genealogical records for 1182 families living in the Heian-kyo capital and the Kinai region (encompassing Izumi, Kawachi, Setsu, Yamashiro, Yamato), which means "close to capital"; but also warns even this record comprises less than half of all the surnames in circulation there.

It categorizes these by their family roots:

• Imperial ancestry 皇別: 335 families
• Divine ancestry 神別: 404 families; of which 246 were of direct heavenly descent claiming to be born of gods who came down to Japan with Ninigi-no-Mikoto, 128 were of heavenly cadet descent, and 30 of 地祇 earthly divine as from gods who already existed in Japan before Ninigi descended.
• Foreign 諸蕃: 326 families; of which, 163 were of Chinese origin from Han, 104 from Baekje, 41 from Goguryeo, 9 from Silla, and 9 from Gaya.

A total of 117 are listed as uncategorized.

Scholars have noted that at least one family, the Yoshida family, is listed under "imperial ancestry" but was likely of foreign origin.^[1]

The three categories in Japanese are called Kōbetsu (Imperial Ancestry), shimbetsu (Divine Ancestry) and shiban (Foreign)^[2]

• Kubota, Jun (2007). Iwanami Nihon Koten Bungaku Jiten [Iwanami dictionary of Japanese classical literature] (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 978-4-00-080310-6.
• Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten: Kan'yakuban [A Comprehensive Dictionary of Classical Japanese Literature: Concise Edition]. Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten. 1986. ISBN 4-00-080067-1.
• Murayama, Izuru 1983 (23rd ed. 2005) Ōtomo no Tabito, Yamanoue no Okura: Yūshū to Kunō. Tokyo : Shintensha.

• Shinsen Shōjiroku, an online edition