Gikeiki

thumb|Cover of the English translation The or Chronicle of Yoshitsune is a Japanese gunki monogatari ("war-tale") that focuses on the legends of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his followers. It is the oldest extant collection of stories concerning Yoshitune's boyhood and fugitive years and the single most important source for the Yoshitune legend which is written about how a legend is born and how a folk hero is shaped. It seems clearly to have intended to supplement Heike Monogatari and other tales of the war. Thought to have been written during the Nanboku-chō period, from the perspective of literature, it has provided inspiration to numerous Noh, kabuki and bunraku plays. Much of the image that people today have of Yoshitsune and those associated with him (Saitō no Musashibō Benkei and Shizuka Gozen, for example) is considered to have been influenced by the Gikeiki. It is also thought that this work is comparable to "Soga Brothers Monogatari", a work from the same period.

==History== The word "Gikeiki" literally means "The Record of Yoshitsune", but the on-yomi of the kanji for his name are used in reading it aloud – "yoshi" () is read as "gi", and "tsune" () is read "kei". The final part "ki" means record.