Kyoto University Library Network

Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive will suspend its service due to the system maintenance from 9:30am, June 4, 2019.
The service will be restored as soon as the maintenance work has been completed.
Thank you for your understanding.

The Maintenance work was completed (11:10am, April 5, 2019) and the service has been restored.

Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive will suspend its service due to the system maintenance for approximately one hour from 10:00am, Friday, April 5, 2019.
The service will be restored as soon as the maintenance work has been completed.
Thank you for your understanding.

Japan's new era name Reiwa is derived from a poem in “Manyoshu”, the oldest existing compilation of Japanese poetry.
See the image of "Manyoshu" in Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive!

Four illustrated plans regarding the accessions of the Emperors from "Gishiki-nobu", Nakai Collection held by Kyoto University Main Library have been digitized and become available in Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive. As of March 29, 2019, Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive has 1,157,922 images of 13,522 titles.

Nakai Collection is a collection of materials passed down through the Nakai family, Tokugawa Government's master carpenter family in Kyoto, including the plans of Kyoto Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle, Shimogamo Shrine and other shrines and temples, concerning documents and maps. These are categorized in sections such as “Kinri-no-bu” (Imperial Court), “Bakufu-no-bu” (Tokugawa Government), “Shaji-no-bu” (shrines and temples), “Chiri-no-bu” (maps) and “Gishiki-no-bu” (ceremonies).

The materials publicized this time, included in “Gishiki-no-bu”, are illustrated plans regarding the accessions of Emperor Sakurammachi (r. 1735-1747) [RB00025164, RB00025165] and Empress Gosakuramachi (r. 1762-1771) [RB00025166, B00025167] during the Edo Period. In particular, “Kyouhou nijuu kinotou no toshi juuichigatsu mikka gosokui toushou touka kazari gokisiki no zu narabini seiryouden reifuku goran zu” (享保二十乙卯歳十一月三日御即位堂上堂下飾御規式之圖并於清涼殿禮服御覧圖) demonstrates Takamikura (Imperial throne), protecting four Gods of Genbu (Black Tortoise), Seiryu (Azure Dragon), Suzaku (Vermilion Bird) and Byakko (White Tiger), and attending courtiers, all of them so colorfully and finely depicted. The digitization of these has been realized thanks to the support from donors to Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive Fund.

The new emperor will ascend to the throne on March 1, 2019. On this occasion, why don’t you have a moment to reflect on what our ancestors have passed down to us so lively preserved in historical documents.

▼Gishiki-no-bu (ceremonies), Nakai Collection

Digitization Project and Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive Fund

Large-sized illustrated plans are digitized by using a no-contact, ultra-high resolution scanner. The scanner runs over a plan along the frame set around it, producing strips of digital images, which are then merged into one entire image.

When investigating large-sized folded plans or maps, we need to prepare a proper area to unfold it safely and be cautious not to put too much pressure on them. On the other hand, digital images are easy to handle with a viewer that enables zooming in or out, or jumping to different sections. Kyoto University Library Network is promoting the digitization of rare materials in order to secure the long-term preservation and the wider use of them at the same time, while respecting the importance for researchers to investigate original materials.

In order to advance our digitization project, we launched “Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive Fund” as a special purpose fund of Kyoto University Fund in June 2018.

We hope to contribute to the promotion of academic research and the development of education and culture by digitizing the rare materials, a common property of society, handed down to our generation and making them available to the world, while preserving the original materials for future generations.

The Kyoto University Museum has approximately 2.6 million objects, among which a number of historically important manuscripts and documents are included. Ten items restored by the university’s restoration project, including letters by Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Hidetada Tokugawa as well as the portrait of Mitsunaga Ogasawara, have been newly released.

▼The Kyoto University Museum

Nichizo-bon (unpublished), Zokyo Shoin Collection held by the Main Library

Zokyo Shoin Collection consists of Buddhist sutras and books collected from the archives of temples by a publisher in Kyoto, Zokyo Shoin and is categorized in four sections: “Zokyo Shoin-bon”, “Nichizo-bon (published)”, “Nichizo-bon (unpublished)” and “Shinshu-bon”. Among these, 595 items from “Nichizo-bon (unpublished)” have been newly digitized and released.

Nichizo-bon (unpublished) is composed of the books on Japanese Buddhism collected for a planned but unrealized sequel to Nihon Daizokyo, a Zokyo in 48 volumes compiled in Japan including writings by more than 300 Japanese Buddhists. The collection includes writings by Buddhist priests of great learning of every Japanese Buddhist sect.

▼Nichizo-bon (unpublished), Zokyo Shoin Collection

Ogasawara Mitsunaga zou

Ganzan daishi hyakusen wakai

The total of 121 titles - 33 titles held by the Main Library, including Genji monogatari (Saga-bon), and 88 titles held by the branch and departmental libraries are now newly released in Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive.
As of March 1, 2019, Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive has 1,121,569 images of 12,913 titles.

Dr. Yu Fujikawa's collection, held by the University of Tokyo, is now available at the website "Digital Fujikawa - History of Medicine in Japan."

Kyoto University Library Network and Keio University Media Center launched the digital unification project in September, 2018. The collection, held by the Faculty of Education, as well as the Graduate School of Education of the University of Tokyo, includes the textbooks and the related books from the late Edo period through Meiji period.

The URL for "Digital Fujikawa" is as follows.
We hope this would be helpful for your research.

https://rmda.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/collection/fujikawa
http://www.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/rdl/digital_fujikawa/index.html

The digital images newly released this time include 219 titles of "Korean Metal/Stone Rubbings Collection", 850 manuscripts from "Kawai Collection", 356 titles of "Modern Educational Wallcharts". Other than these, transcriptions and explanations are added to "Meiji Restoration Collection" and Nara Ehon Collection. As of January 29, 2018, 1,071,087 images of 12,793 titles are available in Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive.

■Korean Metal/Stone Rubbings Collection 금석집첩・속첩 (held by the Main Library)
The collection consists of the rubbings of inscriptions engraved on metal or stone memorials throughout Korea that had been constructed from the Silla Era to the end of the Joseon Dynasty. The main part of the rubbings is considered to have been created in the middle of the 18th Century, with the follow-up part that includes rubbings in the former half of the 19th Century added later. Today, some of the memorials have been lost or deteriorated to illegible, which put more significance on this copy that shows what was originally inscribed on the memorials.

■Kawai Collection (held by the Main Library)
Kawai Collection consists of Korean rare manuscripts and books formerly held by Dr. Hirotami Kawai (1872-1918) who studied mainly history of Korea and its economy. The items newly released this time are 850 manuscripts digitized under the collaborative project between Kyoto University Library, the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University and the Research Institute of Korean Studies, Korea University.
▼Materials digitized under the project based on the agreement between Kyoto University Library, the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University and the Research Institute of Korean Studies, Korea University

■Modern Educational Wallcharts (held by Yoshida-South Library and the Kyoto University Museum)
The collection comprises of educational wallcharts ranging from those used for instruction at the predecessors of the Third High School, i.e. former Osaka School of Western Study (Hanpu Yo Gakko, established in Osaka in 1869) and Osaka English School (Osaka Eigo Gakko, established in 1874), to the ones published during the World War II. This includes various areas of arts and sciences, such as topographical and geological maps, operation maps, botanical, zoological and paleontological charts, periodic tables, ancient customs and legends, chronological tables, anatomical charts, etc.

『금석집첩 천』

Modern Educational Wallcharts

Many old books have collectors' seals on them that furnish valuable information on the books' provenance and transmission. The Collectors' Seal Database provided by the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL) has accumulated images of collectors' seals and their information, which users can search by what is inscribed on the seal, the number of characters, the placement of each character, the number of lines, where the text is broken in lines, etc. Seals collected from Tanimura Collection held by Kyoto University Library are also included in the database.

We have linked Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive's 265 titles of Tanimura Collection to the Collectors' Seal Database so that users can easily refer to the detailed information of the seals on these books.

Please click the links on Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive to the Collectors' Seal Database, and then...



The information of the Collectors' Seal Database appears.