No. 145, October 2005 | National Diet Library

National Diet Library Newsletter

No. 145, October 2005

Modern Japanese Political History Materials
- Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room
of the National Diet Library -

Hiroo Horiuchi
Assistant Director
Modern Japanese Political Documents Division
Reference and Special Collections Department
National Diet Library

This is a short summary of the paper presented at the 16th Annual Conference
of the European Association of Japan Resource Specialists (EAJRS) in September 2005.

1. Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room
- 1.1 History
- 1.2 Collections
- 1.3 Reader service
2. "Modern Japanese political history materials"
- 2.1 Acquisitions
- 2.2 Cataloging
- 2.3 Bibliographic access
- 2.4 Storage
- 2.5 Reformatting
- 2.6 NDL Gallery
3. Related institutions

1. Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room

1.1 History

The room was established in 1949 at the end of the acquisitions activities for the historiographic project on the history of the Japanese constitution that had been undertaken in 1938 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Meiji Constitution. Since then the room has been collecting and cataloging documents relating to modern Japanese political history.

1.2 Collections

1) Modern Japanese political history materials
A collection of private papers owned by those who had been involved in the Japanese politics of modern times. They comprise mainly letters, diaries, memos, and other unofficial business documents. They also include some official documents. The acquisition has been centered on the papers that belonged to the politicians, government officials, diplomats, military personnel and others who had been deeply engaged in parliamentary politics. The papers amount to more than 250,000 items which are divided into over 300 groups.

2) Materials on the Allied Occupation of Japan
A microfilm collection of documents and records containing various administrative information concerning the Allied Occupation of Japan in the post WW II period. The originals are held by overseas institutions including the U.S. About 13,000 rolls of microfilm and 470,000 sheets of microfiche are now provided for readers.

3) Materials on Japanese emigration
A collection of documents relating to Japanese emigrants acquired by the NDL from Central and South America, North America, Hawaii, etc. related article

1.3 Reader service

Readers can use the materials in the room in the almost same way as they use the library’s general collection such as books in the other reading rooms. However, considering the nature of the collections and for the purpose of the protection of privacy and human rights, users are required to submit an application form in advance to obtain permission to use the collections.

2. "Modern Japanese political history materials"

2.1 Acqusitions

Early stage (up to the early 1950s)
Amidst the turmoil during the period right after WW II, many of the historical documents were in danger of being scattered and lost. Thanks to the cooperation of Mr. Okubo Toshiaki, the well-known historian, the NDL purchased a total of 50,000 documents owned by veteran statesmen who had been active during the time period from the last days of the Tokugawa regime through the Meiji era.

Expansion of acquisition target (up to 1970s)
The research done for the exhibition to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Diet in 1961 stimulated the acquisition of historic political materials on a wider scale. The target area was expanded to include materials produced in the Taisho and Showa eras. The NDL also acquired materials owned by the former officials of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau who got involved in the drafting of the new constitution after WWII.

Increase of materials of Showa era (from the 1980s)
Later acquisitions have included materials owned by former prime ministers, politicians and staff of political parties, Diet staff, military personnel, journalists, economic analysts, specialists in education and culture, etc. They came to light and became a part of the NDL's collections as a result of a call for hitherto hidden historical materials for the Diet Centenary Exhibition in 1990.

Even today the NDL collects materials introduced by related institutions and researchers or found in the second-hand book market by means of donation, deposit, and purchase.

2.2 Cataloging

The collected materials are divided into groups under the names of their previous owners, such as "Ito Hirobumi Papers*" and "Mutsu Munemitsu Papers." Catalogs are made for each group of papers. The structure of the classification scheme is different for each group of papers according to its state and nature. *related article

2.3 Bibliographic access

Catalogs for the public are made first. For some papers, more detailed printed catalogs have been published. The profile of each group of papers has been made available on the NDL website. Creation of a database of printed catalogs has just begun and no details have been decided on how the database should be open to the public.

2.4 Storage

Originals are stored individually in permanent-paper envelopes. In the cases of materials which have already been microfilmed, the originals are kept in the rare-book stacks (wooden shelves).

2.5 Reformatting

Microfilming has been undertaken for deteriorated and well-used materials. Up to now about 90,000 items of original materials have been already microfilmed.

2.6 NDL Gallery (electronic exhibitions)

NDL Gallery on the NDL website offers the following contents:

"Modern Japanese political history materials" from "Nippon in the World"

http://www.ndl.go.jp/site_nippon/kensei/index.html (Japanese)

http://www.ndl.go.jp/site_nippon/kenseie/index.html (English)

70 items of the most important documents from the modern Japanese political history materials collection were presented, organized by period and theme in the exhibition. A part of the collection catalog has been digitized and can be searched on the Gallery home page as an experiment.

Birth of the Constitution of Japan

http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/index.html (Japanese)

http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/index.html (English)

The exhibition presents 180 important documents involved in the framing and enactment of Japan’s constitution with images, bibliographic information, commentaries, and texts.

Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures

http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/index.html (Japanese)

http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/index.html (English)

This exhibition presents portrait photographs of statesmen, government officials, military officers, businessmen, and others carried in books or found in the Modern Japanese political history materials collection. The photographs accompany the biography and images of the works of the persons portrayed.

The next exhibition we are now working on is "Japan of Modern Era Shown in Historical Documents (tentative name)" to be open to the public in FY2006.

3. Related institutions

Major institutions that store and provide historical documents other than the NDL are:

National Archives of Japan (Kokuritsu Kobunshokan)
Diplomatic Record Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (Gaimusho Gaiko Shiryokan)
National Institute for Defense Studies (Boeicho Boei Kenkyujo)
Archives and Mausolea Department of the Imperial Household Agency (Kunaicho Shoryobu)

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