The history book is written about events and consists of the 397 volumes with 226 books, and the first seventy three volumes are honki (about the emperors), next 170 volumes are retsuden (retsuden describes empresses, prince and princesses and courts chronologically while it is sometimes classified as gyakushinden or koshiden) and the last 154 volumes are shi and hyo (five catalogues).
紀伝体の史書で、本紀（帝王）73巻、列伝（后妃・皇子・皇女を最初に置き、群臣はほぼ年代順に配列、時に逆臣伝・孝子伝といった分類も見られる）170巻、志・表154巻、全397巻226冊（目録5巻）。