The 'Taiheiki' (Record of the Great Peace) describes the Northern and Southern Court period, from Emperor Godaigo's enthronement to Yoriyuki HOSOKAWA's appointment as Kanrei; characterized by its strong stylistic similarities to war chronicles, it also gained popularity among the commoners through the reciting of tales by monks from the Muromachi period through to the Edo period, and was so often recited that such readings aloud, regardless of the title of the work being read, came to be called 'Taiheiki readings.'
「太平記」は後醍醐天皇の即位から細川頼之が管領に就任するまでの南北朝時代を扱っており、軍記物語の性格が強く室町時代から江戸時代にかけて太平記よみと呼ばれる物語僧によって庶民にも語られていた。