Grand Basis of the Inner Canon, Volume Two

Rarely seen in recent times, even the three volumes recorded in the Bibliographic Treatise of the History of the Song Dynasty The Song Zhi (Song Annals) recorded the imperial collection of the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE). no longer exist in China. This current edition is a facsimile reproduction A "facsimile" (yingxie) refers to a hand-traced or carefully copied reproduction intended to look exactly like the original manuscript. based on a Tang Dynasty-style manuscript scroll obtained in Japan by Mr. Yang Xingwu Yang Xingwu is the courtesy name of Yang Shoujing (1839–1915), a famous Chinese diplomat and bibliophile who recovered many "lost" Chinese books while stationed in Japan..

The scrolls are approximately seven and a half inches high. Each line contains between sixteen and seventeen characters. A total of seven volumes are missing: the first, fourth, seventh, sixteenth, eighteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first. Additionally, there is one volume of fragments consisting of thirteen sheets of paper. At the end of the text, there is a notation indicating that this is a facsimile of the collection held at the Ninna-ji Imperial Palace Ninna-ji is a famous Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, known for its "Monzeki" status, meaning it was traditionally headed by members of the Imperial Family..

According to the Record of Seeking Ancient Books The Jingji Fanggu Zhi is a renowned bibliographic study of rare Chinese books in Japan, compiled by the Japanese scholar-physician Mori Tatsuyuki. by the Japanese scholar Mori Tatsuyuki:

The Grand Basis of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon

Compiled and annotated by Tang Dynasty Tongzhi Lang A title meaning "Court Gentleman for Consultant Services," a mid-level civil service rank. and Literary Scholar to the Crown Prince, Yang Shangshan, by imperial decree. The seven missing volumes match those in Mr. Yang’s manuscript copy. A note below states that it was transcribed from an old manuscript dating to the third year of the Ninna era The Ninna era refers to the Japanese regnal period 885–889 CE..

We note that the third year of the Japanese Ninna era corresponds to the third year of the Guangqi era 887 CE during the reign of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty. Since Mr. Yang’s manuscript was based on the Ninna-ji Imperial collection...