Advance reservation / Advance application to use rare books and semi-rare books
Advance reservation (except for rare books and semi-rare books)
Materials held in the Rare Books and Old Materials Room can be reserved in advance for your use, except for rare books and semi-rare books. Please note that you may have to wait for the materials if you request them on the same day without making an advance reservation, as we deliver materials at hourly, on the hour.
(Rare books and semi-rare books are materials which have "Required" in the "Advance application" column on the list of collections below. Please see the next section, "Advance application to use rare books and semi-rare books" for further information.)
Advance reservation is required to use the originals on Saturdays. (Advance reservation is not necessary to use microforms and DVDs)
- User Registration (Official user registration) is required to use materials (originals, microfilmed materials and DVDs).
- For materials with a large number of volumes, please specify the volumes you need before applying.
- If the information you provide is inaccurate or incomplete, we may not be able to accept your reservation. Please note that we may decline your request depending on the condition of the materials.
Application procedure
Reservation form
Please apply via the reservation form for the Rare Books and Old Materials Room (Japanese only) not later than noon on the previous working day of your preferred date. If you need, please also refer to an image of the form in English(PDF/487KB).
You will receive two emails from the "
" domain, one when your request is received and one after your reservation has been confirmed. In the case that you have set your email to only receive messages from specified domains, please set up your email to accept emails from this "" domain.
- Application receipt email
- An application receipt email is automatically sent by the system immediately after your request is received. If you do not receive it, there may be an error in the email address you provided. If you have any questions, please call the Rare Books and Old Materials Room.
- Reservation confirmation email
- We will send a reservation confirmation email by 3:00 pm on the working day before the day you wish to visit the library. If you do not receive it, your reservation may not have been completed. Please call the Rare Books and Old Materials Room before visiting the library.
Contact phone number(1): 03-3506-5293 ext. 27523 (reception hours: 9:30 am - 5:00 pm on working days)
Application by postal mail or fax
Please send/fax the reservation form (for postal mail/fax)(PDF/154KB) (Japanese only) not later than noon on the previous working day. If there are unavailable materials, you will be notified by 5:00 pm on the previous working day.
Send/fax the form to:
Rare Books and Old Materials Room, National Diet Library, 1-10-1
Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8924, Japan
Fax: 03-3504-1529
Advance application to use rare books and semi-rare books
Before application
Most of the rare books and semi-rare books are available in the National Diet Library Digital Collections. Some materials are also available in microform. If materials are already digitized or microfilmed, please use them in digitized form or microform to preserve the originals.
If you need to see originals
You need to submit an application at least six working days in advance. To use materials which have "Required" in the "Advance application" column on the list of the collections below, please contact us in advance.
Contact phone number(1): 03-3506-5293 ext. 27523 (reception hours: 9:30 am - 5:00 pm on working days)
The material(s) requested will be available from about six working days after the day the application has been accepted.
In addition, depending on the condition of the material and the use situation of the library room, we may not be able to comply with your request.
General description of the collections
The Rare Books and Old Materials Room possesses about 290,000 books including rare books and semi-rare books, and its collections mainly consist of Japanese old books up to the Edo Period and Chinese old books up to the Qing Dynasty. One of the room's features is the variety of its holdings, including a rich collection of materials from the early modern period. Materials with call numbers listed below are available in the room.
Japanese and Chinese books
| Call number | Example | Description | Advance application |
|---|---|---|---|
| WA | <WA7-2> | Rare books | Required |
| WB | <WB5-3> | Semi-rare books | Required |
| 貴、貴箱 | <貴2-17> | Equivalent to rare books and semi-rare books | Required |
| 本別、寄別 | <(本)別20-1> | Equivalent to rare books and semi-rare books | Required |
| 100～249 | <207-764> | Manuscripts and printed books of the Edo Period and Chinese old books of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and others | |
| 800～899 | <806-19> | Documents taken over from the government of Edo, Komiyama Library, Kabutoyama Collection and others | |
| 十二支 | <卯-8> | Japanese and Chinese old books arranged using the letters of the Oriental Zodiac (子～亥) | |
| いろは | <は-21> | Japanese and Chinese old books arranged using the letters い～ん(hiragana) | |
| 京・京乙 | <京-55> | Novels, plays, illustrated books and others of the Edo Period | |
| 詩文 | <詩文-722> | Gakken Collection: anthology of Chinese poetry and writings mainly by Japanese authors from the books previously owned by Dohi Keizo | |
| 特1 | <特1-203> | Shirai Collection: materials on herbalism collected by Shirai Mitsutaro | |
| 特2 | <特2-1369> | Shinjo Collection: materials on astronomy and the calendar previously owned by Shinjo Shinzo | |
| 特7 | <特7-124> | Ito Collection: materials on herbalism collected by Ito Keisuke and inherited by his grandson Tokutaro | |
| 特1000～1004 | <特1002-2> | Books acquired by the Kameda Kokichi Fund | |
| わ+NDC6版 | <わ210.5-2> | Japanese and Chinese old materials acquired between April 1949 and March 1961 | |
| ち | <ち13-1> | Old maps acquired between April 1949 and March 1961 | |
| NDC6版 | <082.1-Sy996> | Japanese and Chinese old materials and others acquired between 1948 and 1968 | |
| VF6 | <VF6-K2-75> | Japanese and Chinese old materials in the Hotta Ryohei Collection | |
| VF7 | <VF7-N1> | Japanese and Chinese old materials in the Watanabe Toshio Collection | |
| W | <W89-50> | Japanese and Chinese old materials and others acquired in and after 1969 | |
| YR | <YR12-132> | Scrolls, sheets, folded books and pocket editions up to the Edo Period or Qing Dynasty acquired in and after 1969 | |
| YS | <YS1-5> | Western-bound manuscripts and books in author's own handwriting |
Western books
| Call number | Example | Description | Advance application |
|---|---|---|---|
| WA | <WA41-2> | Rare books | Required |
| WB | <WB41-6> | Semi-rare books | Required |
| 貴 | <貴-6437> | Equivalent to rare books and semi-rare books | Required |
| 別 | <別-31> | Equivalent to rare books and semi-rare books | Required |
| 蘭 | <蘭-1450> | Western (Dutch) books previously owned by the government of Edo | |
| 特4-1～47 | <特4-31> | Books previously owned by Ogawa Takuji | Required |
| VF3 | <VF3-159> | Pamphlets related to political movements in France in the 17th century | |
| WF | <WF3-2> | Western books published before 1831 |
Newspapers and magazines
| Call number | Example | Description | Advance application |
|---|---|---|---|
| WB42 | <WB42-15> | magazines | Required |
| WB43 | <WB43-150> | newspapers | Required |
Footnote
- ^^If you have difficulty using the phone due to hearing, speech, language, or other reasons, please contact us via the inquiry form. Please note that inquiries submitted via the form may take longer to respond to than inquiries by phone.