Kyoto University Library Network

The Graduate School of Letters of Kyoto University and the Kyoto University Museum have been carrying out the restoration and digitization of an important cultural property Dainihonshi hensan kiroku held by the Graduate School of Letters since academic year 2017. 202 images of the restored volumes 56-61 are now available in Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive. 

▼Important Cultural Property - Dainihonshi hensan kiroku (G.S. Letters)

Dainihonshi hensan kiroku (大日本史編纂記録) is a collection of more than 6,000 letters (copies) exchanged between Shokokan (彰考館; Mito Domain’s office for history compilation) in Mito (currently in Ibaraki Prefecture) and Edo (currently Tokyo) and their Kyoto office regarding the compilation of Dainihonshi (*1) by Tokugawa Mitsukuni (徳川光圀; 1628-1701). A total of 42,810 people and organizations and 15,159 historical records and literature works are mentioned in the letters and the content covers a wide range of aspects of the time, such as history, literature, Confucianism and Japanese classical literature, as well as the publishing culture during the Genroku Period, which makes this rare material a first-class historical record.

The rare material, before being restored, consisted of 248 volumes of about 10,000 sheets (one sheet folded in half to form a pouch makes two pages) in the form of fukuro-toji yotsume-toji (袋綴四つ目綴装) with sheets of papers folded at the fore edge and sewn at the back edge at four points. However, the rebinding and restoration done to the material during the Edo period were not appropriate to secure its long-term preservation; they also made it impossible to read the majority of the volumes without damaging them, because the text near the back edge was sewn inside the spine.

Therefore, a restoration project was launched in academic year 2017 funded by the Sumitomo Foundation (2017-2022), and also by government (2021-2023). The Graduate School of Letters has also set up Kyoto University Fund for the restoration of its library collection and the Kyoto University Museum acquired the university's special budget for this project in 2018.

Each volume of Dainihonshi hensan kiroku is to be released on the Internet through Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive upon the completion of restoration and digitization processes. As of November 8, 2024, the Digital Archive provides 2,154,076 images of 25,504 titles.

Sorry, this entry is only available in 日本語.

The Maintenance work was completed (2024/11/5 9:15) and the service has been restored.

Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive will suspend its service due to the system maintenance for about 30 minutes from 9:00 am, November 5, 2024. 
The service will be restored as soon as the maintenance work has been completed.
Thank you for your understanding.

The Institute Humanities Research  Library will be temporarily closed during the following period during the lunch break (12:00-13:00).

Monday, October 28, 2024 – Friday, November 1

( We are closed all day on October 31 because of regular closed day.)

Sorry, this entry is only available in 日本語.