Kyoto University Library Network

The National Diet Library, Japan, (the NDL) launched a Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals.

The Service is available to official registered users of the NDL.

For detail:

• 2022-5-19 The NDL's Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals to Launch [National Diet Library]
• Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals [National Diet Library]

• User Registration [National Diet Library]

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. Three hundred twenty-two images of the restored volumes 15-20 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, and also funded by government from 2021. 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 May 17, 2022, the Digital Archive provides 1,872,545 images of 23,250 titles.

 

118 titles of Sanskrit manuscripts and Ezo-related archives Ezochi ikken (蝦夷地一件) and Ezo byōgi (蝦夷廟議) held by the Graduate School of Letters have been newly released.

▼Graduate School of Letters

 

The Sanskrit manuscripts were collected in Nepal and brought back to Japan by Professor Ryozaburo SAKAKI (榊亮三郎, 1872-1946), the initiator of Sanskrit studies in Kyoto Imperial University.
The collection became relegated to the official possession of the Faculty of Letters in 1977, and then, on the occasion of the opening of the manuscripts to the public, A succinct catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the possession of the Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University compiled by Kiyotaka Goshima and Keiya Noguchi. Society for Indic and Buddhistic Studies, Kyoto University, 1983 was compiled. The descriptions of the catalogue have been cited in the “Note” section of metadata.

Saptaśatikâ Prajñâpâramitâ

 

Ezochi ikken (蝦夷地一件) was a collection of official documents from 1784 to 1790 concerning the Ezo issue in the Edo shogunate.
Of the seven original volumes, the Graduate School of Letters holds Vol.1-5 including the Vol.1 and Vol.4, which have been missing for a long time. (ref. 岩﨑奈緒子著『近世後期の世界認識と鎖国』)

“蝦夷地一件”　Left: Russian merchant and translator of Ezo man, Right: Katana sword

 

Ezo byōgi (蝦夷廟議) is a collection of official documents from the visit of Laxman, the first Russian envoy to Japan, in 1792.

“蝦夷廟議”

 

Xi xia wen hua yan jing (西夏文華嚴經) is a Tangut translation of the Da fang guang fo hua yan jing (大方廣佛華嚴經). Of the 80 volumes, Kyoto University holds volumes 1-5 and 41 in the Graduate School of Letters, and volumes 6-10 and 36 in the Institute for Research in Humanities. Volumes 6-10 and 36 are available at the database 東方學デジタル圖書館, and volumes 1-5 and 41 are now available in the Rare Materials Digital Archive.

“西夏文華嚴經” volume 1

 

In addition, 10 titles of "Bankoku Jinbutsu zu (万国人物図)", held by the Main Library and the Graduate School of Letters are now available. The "Bankoku jnbutsu zu" is a generic term for illustrated books of ethnography published in the Edo period that depict the characteristics of people around the world. Shijūnikoku jinbutsu zusetsu (四十二国人物図説, Manuscripts from Konoe Collection) by Nisikawa Joken (西川如見), Kaigai jinbutsushū (海外人物輯), Kaigai shotō zusetsu kaisei (海外諸島圖説 改正), Gaiban yōbō zue (外蕃容貌圖画), and other titles were published. It show the changes of the worldviews in early modern Japan.

Left: Great Ming from “四十二国人物図説”
Center: Dutch ship from “異國人物帖”
Right: Dutch people from “異國人物帖”

 

Using Mirador, an IIIF viewer, you can view multiple images side by side.

Mirador (Left: “四十二国人物図説”, Right: “四十二國人物圖”)

 

Collection	Record ID	Title	Author	Call No
G.S. Letters	RB00033348	[西夏文華嚴經] (存5巻)		東洋史:CXIII/S/17/貴重
G.S. Letters	RB00033349	[西夏文華嚴經 卷41]		東洋史:CXIII/S/11/貴重
G.S. Letters	RB00033350	異國人物帖		地理:L3/436/貴重
G.S. Letters	RB00033351	外蕃容貌圖画	田川春道撰, 倉田東岳画	地理:J6/2
Main Library (Konoe Collection)	RB00008851	四十二国人物図説	西川忠英(如見, 求林斎, 淵梅軒)志	5-80/シ/1貴
Main Library (Muroga Collection)	RB00033341	世界萬國日本ヨリ海上里數国印王城人物圖		室賀/YG/19/2-24
Main Library (Muroga Collection)	RB00033344	畫本異國一覽 3巻	春光園花丸 [著]	室賀/G/87/和1
Main Library (Muroga Collection)	RB00033345	海外諸島圖説 改正 後集	蠖屈陳人 [撰], 柳川重信畫	室賀/GA/71/和2
Main Library (Non-rare Materials)	RB00033342	萬國人物盡	假名垣魯文譯, 一孟齋芳虎画	4-41/ハ/3
Main Library (Non-rare Materials)	RB00033343	萬國人物圖繪	魯文譯, 芳虎画	4-41/ハ/4
Main Library (Non-rare Materials)	RB00033346	四十二國人物圖		8-40/シ/1/巻別
Main Library (Non-rare Materials)	RB00033347	海外人物輯	永田南溪所藏, 一光齊畫	5-88/カ/6

 

As of February 4, 2022, the Digital Archive provides 1,669,087 images of 20,582 titles.

 

Trouble had been solved.  (2021.10.19)

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2021.09.28