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Other Search Engines / Databases
Databases Open for PublicHow to Register for the databases marked ※
(If you wish to use images for a publication, television broadcast, or other such purpose, please see the “Application for Special Use Privileges” page.)
Western Books on Japan
Overseas Images of Japan, Early Photographs
Strange Phenomena and Yōkai(Ghosts, Monsters, Spirits)Related Materials
Ukiyo-e, Emakimono, Art
Pictorial and Biographical Works
Maps
Kojiruien
Records and Accounts
Waka, Renga, Haikai
Bibliographic Database
Medical History-related Materials
Performing Arts
Other Search Engines / Databases
Databases Open for PublicHow to Register for the databases marked ※
(If you wish to use images for a publication, television broadcast, or other such purpose, please see the “Application for Special Use Privileges” page.)
- Catalogue of pre-1900 Western-language Publications Related to Japan
|
Digitization of a three-volume, indexed catalogue of pre-1900 published works in Western languages in the Nichibunken collection that contain material about Japan. |
 |
1,057 items |
- Catalogue of the Research Center for the History of Sino-Japanese Relations
|
Catalogue information for the former collection of the Sino-Japanese Historical Research Center, divided into “Western-language works,” “Chinese-language works,” “Japanese-language works,” and “Maps.” |
 |
27,805 items |
- Chirimen-bon (Crepe-paper Books)
|
Database of high-resolution images of Chirimen-bon (Japanese folktales written in other languages, printed on Japanese washi paper made for export in the Meiji and Taishō eras), held at Nichibunken. |
 |
77 items |
- Civil Court Rulings Files ※
|
Images of all the texts of the court rulings in civil cases from 1868 to 1890 (Meiji 1 to 23). |
 |
549,101 items |
- Early Modern Illustrated Encyclopedias
|
A database of illustrated encyclopedias published in early modern Japan. Includes Kinmōzui (1666) and other “Kinmōzui”-type encylopedias as well as books with pictorial and diagramed information. Although described as “early modern,” this database covers the period up to and including the early Meiji era. |
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2,253 items |
- Early Photographs
|
Hand-colored photographs (with source information) of Japan from the late Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji era in the Nichibunken collection. |
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5,431 items |
- Emakimono (Picture Scrolls)
|
Database of high-resolution digital images of emakimono (picture scrolls) held at Nichibunken. |
 |
30 items |
- Ehon (Ukiyo-e Shunga) ※
|
Database of basic bibliographic data and digitized high resolution images of Edo period ehon (erotic ukiyo-e books) in the Nichibunken collection. |
 |
449 items
(877 pieces) |
- Haikai
|
The major haikai collections, including those of Bashō and Buson. This material, collected over many years by Seta Katsuhiro of the Nara National College of Technology, was donated to Nichibunken in support of Japanese studies. |
|
25,652 items |
- Heian Jinbutsu Shi (Who’s Who in Old Kyoto)
|
Images, complete text, and index to the Heian jinbutsu shi who’s who (collection of Nichibunken) published between 1768 and 1867. |
|
927 pages |
- Heian-Period Chronicles (Old Diaries, Historical Documents)
|
Database in kundoku (“Japanese” or explanatory reading) of the full texts of diaries and other old records from the middle part of the Heian period.
Shōyūki (diary of Fujiwara no Sanesuke);
Gonki (diary of Fujiwara no Yukinari);
Midō Kanpakuki (diary of Fujiwara no Michinaga);
Sakeiki (diary of Minamoto no Tsuneyori);
Shunki (diary of Fujiwara no Sukefusa), etc.
|
 |
14,126 items |
- Japanese Art Overseas
|
Contains images of and original source information on works of Japanese art (paintings, woodblock prints, netsuke, ceramics, lacquerware, sculpture, metalwork, etc.) in the collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, the Ferenc Hopp Museum of East Asian Arts in Hungary, as well as other museums in Hungary and the Czech Republic. |
 |
8,673 items |
-
Kinsei Kijinden (Prominent Figures of Our Times)
|
Digitized full text and illustrations of the Kinsei kijinden (parts 1 and 2, published in the 1790s),a collection of biographies of Edo-period figures(artists,poets,etc.).Chinese and kana characters in the old form have been replaced with present-day equivalents. Characters not in the JIS Code have been replaced with JIS Code characters having the same meaning and pronunciation. |
 |
97 items |
- Kojiruien Full Page Search System
|
To make the Kojiruien more easily and widely available to Japan specialists in and outside Japan, this database has an easy-to-use search function, based on the 51-volume edition of the Kojiruien (bound in Western-book format) published in the Taishō era (1912–1926). |
|
51 items |
- Kojiruien Full Text
|
Kojiruien is an exhaustive encyclopedia of Japanese culture of over 67,000 pages and more than 40,000 entries, launched as a national project by the Meiji government and published in the Meiji and Taishō eras. In collaboration with the National Institute of Japanese Literature and other organizations, Nichibunken has converted [been converting] the entire text of the Kojiruien into a database and been making it available in stages to the public. |
|
17,950 pages |
- Korean Photo Picture Postcards
|
Picture postcards of Korea published 1900-1940 (collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto; former researcher at the Koryo Museum of Art, Kyoto) are presented in digital format together with publication data and other details. |
 |
6,516 items |
- Kyoto Festivals and Customs
|
Paintings on silk by Nakajima Sōyō and explanatory texts by Kyoto scholar Ema Tsutomu from Miyako nenjū gyōji gajō (1928; owned by Nichibunken), a picture album depicting annual festivals and customs of Kyoto. |
 |
103 items |
- Letters Addressed to Inoue Tetsujirō ※
|
Database containing letters addressed to philosopher Inoue Tetsujirō (1856-1944) from prominent figures in academia and other members of intellectual elite over the six decades from 1882 to 1941. |
 |
140 items |
- Maps drawn by Mori Kōan
|
This database collects maps drawn by Mori Kōan, a draftsman and map-maker active in the mid-Edo period. It allows viewing of some of the images published in the Zōho kaitei Mori Kōan no egaita chizu (Maps Drawn by Mori Kōan), published in the Nichibunken Japanese Studies Series (No. 54). |
 |
383 items |
- Medieval Zen Texts
|
Digitalized text for Zen-related works of the medieval era. Currently it provides the full text of Gidō Shūshin's Kūge rōshi nichiyō kufū ryakushū, Kokan Shiren's Jūzen Shiroku, Zoku zen Shiroku, and Ryōsen Ryōzui's Kaizō Oshō Kinenroku. |
|
2,351 items |
- Namazu-e Collection
|
Collections of namazu-e (catfish prints) owned by Nichibunken. Namazu-e are color prints depicting the myth of giant catfish living underground as the cause of earthquakes. |
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87 items |
- Nara Ehon in the Library of Congress Collection
|
Images of the Nara ehon (“Nara picture books”) in the Library of Congress Collection in the United States, along with commentaries. |
 |
4 items |
- Nichibunken Map Collection
|
Images of old maps in the Nichibunken collection —mainly urban maps made in early modern Japan— are available in digital form. |
 |
949 items |
- Noma Archives (Rare European Medical Books)
|
Database of the Noma Collection, including sixteenth-century books on human anatomy, donated to Nichibunken by the Noma Research Archives for Science and Medicine (closed in 2003). |
 |
73 items |
- Overseas Images of Japan
|
Nichibunken’s collection of photographs, illustrations, and other images (with source information) extracted from Japan-related publications from around the world. |
 |
56,913 items |
- Overseas Japanese-language Newspapers
|
Digital data of Japanese newspapers published outside of Japan. Nine newspapers published in San Francisco, Argentina, and Brazil are now available in digital format. |
 |
15,522 items |
- Rare Books and Maps on Japan in European Languages
|
Images of all pages of the rare books in Nichibunken’s collection, primarily books in foreign languages published before the opening of the country in the 1850s. The database also contains the text data of these works including bibliographic information, tables of contents, and the captions of illustrations. |
 |
277 items |
-
Renga
|
Contains all renga collections composed before the Eiroku era (up until the death of renga poet Sōyō in 1563) and the major works composed from the Eiroku era until the Bakumatsu period. This material, collected over many years by Professor Seta Katsuhiro of the Nara National College of Technology, has been donated to Nichibunken in support of Japanese studies. |
|
197,228 items |
- Renga Association Examples
|
Database of renga-associated vocabulary, created by extracting, from the verses recorded in Nichibunken’s renga database, the lexical patterns that appear in the preceding stanza (maeku) and the linking stanza (tsukeku) that is added to it. Users of this database can search these lexical patterns either using the maeku/tsukeku or verse collection title. The database is linked a digitized version of “Rensō goi yōrei jiten” (Dictionary of Usage of Associated Vocabulary) included in Yamada Shōji and Iwai Shigeki, eds., Renga no hassō rensō goi yōrei jiten to sono nettowāku kaiseki,the Nichibunken Japanese Studies Series (No. 38) |
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- |
- Rōkyoku (Naniwabushi) Digital Archive
|
The archive contains approximately 10,000 standard-playing (SP) records of rōkyoku (naniwabushi) songs released from 1903 to the mid-1960s. Database also includes original records, label images, posters, and other rōkyoku-related materials. Only original sound recordings for which copyright protection has expired are freely available to the public. |
 |
Original sound recordings:1,718, Label images:5,533, Rōkyoku-related materials:50 |
- Sōda Archives: Pictorial and Miscellaneous Materials
|
Mainly illustrations from the Sōda Archives of books and illustrations relating to histories of medicine and pharmacy collected by the late Sōda Hajime (1921-1996), an authority on the history of medicine. |
 |
1,104 items |
-
Tanzaku, or Poems by Noteworthy Kyoto Personages
|
Images of rectangular poem cards (tanzaku) with verses brushed by the figures who appear in the Heian jinbutsu shi (held at Nichibunken), text versions of the verses and source data. |
 |
947 items |
- Waka
|
Contains all twenty-one imperial anthologies, including Man'yōshū, and major private waka collections such as Fuboku wakashū. This material, collected by Seta Katsuhiro over many years, was donated to Nichibunken in support of Japanese studies. |
|
190,423 items |
Other Search Engines / Databases
- Kigo Keyword Search
|
This database, which contains more than 35,000 kigo (seasonal words) entries, has been developed as a search tool for Nichibunken’s waka, renga, and haikai databases. It can be used separately to search for kigo words. |
|
35,811 items |
- Nichibunken Library
|
Bibliographic information on books and periodicals from around the world, held at Nichibunken, providing an almost complete picture of written materials and images in the Nichibunken collection. |
|
- |
Databases Open for PublicHow to Register for the databases marked ※
(If you wish to use images for a publication, television broadcast, or other such purpose, please see the “Application for Special Use Privileges” page.)
- Catalogue of pre-1900 Western-language Publications Related to Japan
|
Digitization of a three-volume, indexed catalogue of pre-1900 published works in Western languages in the Nichibunken collection that contain material about Japan. |
|
1,057 items |
- Chirimen-bon (Crepe-paper Books)
|
Database of high-resolution images of Chirimen-bon (Japanese folktales written in other languages, printed on Japanese washi paper made for export in the Meiji and Taishō eras), held at Nichibunken. |
|
77 items |
- Rare Books and Maps on Japan in European Languages
|
Images of all pages of the rare books in Nichibunken’s collection, primarily books in foreign languages published before the opening of the country in the 1850s. The database also contains the text data of these works including bibliographic information, tables of contents, and the captions of illustrations. |
|
277 items |
| Overseas Images of Japan, Early Photographs |
- Early Photographs
|
Hand-colored photographs (with source information) of Japan from the late Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji era in the Nichibunken collection. |
|
5,431 items |
- Overseas Images of Japan
|
Nichibunken’s collection of photographs, illustrations, and other images (with source information) extracted from Japan-related publications from around the world. |
|
56,913 items |
| Strange Phenomena and Yōkai(Ghosts, Monsters, Spirits)Related Materials |
- Emakimono (Picture Scrolls)
|
Database of high-resolution digital images of emakimono (picture scrolls) held at Nichibunken. |
|
30 items |
- Ehon (Ukiyo-e Shunga) ※
|
Database of basic bibliographic data and digitized high resolution images of Edo period ehon (erotic ukiyo-e books) in the Nichibunken collection. |
|
449 items
(877 pieces) |
- Genji Monogatari (1654 Version) in the Library of Congress Collection
|
Full image data of the Shōō-ban Genji monogatari, a 1654 version of the illustrated Tale of Genji (texts: 54 volumes, commentaries: 6 volumes) in the collection of the Library of Congress in the United States. |
 |
60 items |
- Japanese Art Overseas
|
Contains images of and original source information on works of Japanese art (paintings, woodblock prints, netsuke, ceramics, lacquerware, sculpture, metalwork, etc.) in the collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, the Ferenc Hopp Museum of East Asian Arts in Hungary, as well as other museums in Hungary and the Czech Republic. |
|
8,673 items |
- Nara Ehon in the Library of Congress Collection
|
Images of the Nara ehon (“Nara picture books”) in the Library of Congress Collection in the United States, along with commentaries. |
|
4 items |
- Ukiyo-e in the Library of Congress Collection
|
Images of ukiyo-e prints in the Library of Congress Collection in the United States, along with commentaries on the prints. |
 |
2,741 items |
| Pictorial and Biographical Works |
- Early Modern Illustrated Encyclopedias
|
A database of illustrated encyclopedias published in early modern Japan. Includes Kinmōzui (1666) and other “Kinmōzui”-type encylopedias as well as books with pictorial and diagramed information. Although described as “early modern,” this database covers the period up to and including the early Meiji era. |
|
2,253 items |
- Folklore Illustrations
|
High resolution images of all pages of the ezōshi, or illustrated story books from the Edo period, in the Nichibunken collection. |
 |
458 items |
-
Heian Jinbutsu Shi (Who’s Who in Old Kyoto)
|
Images, complete text, and index to the Heian jinbutsu shi who’s who (collection of Nichibunken) published between 1768 and 1867. |
|
927 pages |
- Illustrations of Historic Places in Kyoto
|
Database of digitized high-resolution images of Edo-period and Meiji-era meisho zue illustrated guidebooks of famous places in Kyoto held at Nichibunken. The database has been constructed to help researchers study the lifestyles and customs of old Kyoto through such guidebooks. |
 |
24 items |
- Kyoto Festivals and Customs
|
Paintings on silk by Nakajima Sōyō and explanatory texts by Kyoto scholar Ema Tsutomu from Miyako nenjū gyōji gajō (1928; owned by Nichibunken), a picture album depicting annual festivals and customs of Kyoto. |
|
103 items |
-
Tanzaku, or Poems by Noteworthy Kyoto Personages
|
Images of rectangular poem cards (tanzaku) with verses brushed by the figures who appear in the Heian jinbutsu shi (held at Nichibunken), text versions of the verses and source data. |
|
947 items |
- Maps drawn by Mori Kōan
|
This database collects maps drawn by Mori Kōan, a draftsman and map-maker active in the mid-Edo period. It allows viewing of some of the images published in the Zōho kaitei Mori Kōan no egaita chizu (Maps Drawn by Mori Kōan), published in the Nichibunken Japanese Studies Series (No. 54). |
|
383 items |
- Nichibunken Map Collection
|
Images of old maps in the Nichibunken collection —mainly urban maps made in early modern Japan— are available in digital form. |
|
949 items |
- Yoshida Hatsusaburō Bird’s-eye View Maps
|
Database of images of the bird’s-eye view maps made by Yoshida Hatsusaburō (1884–1955) and other artists of his time. |
 |
591 items |
- Kojiruien Full Page Search System
|
To make the Kojiruien more easily and widely available to Japan specialists in and outside Japan, this database has an easy-to-use search function, based on the 51-volume edition of the Kojiruien (bound in Western-book format) published in the Taishō era (1912–1926). |
|
51 items |
- Kojiruien Full Text
|
Kojiruien is an exhaustive encyclopedia of Japanese culture of over 67,000 pages and more than 40,000 entries, launched as a national project by the Meiji government and published in the Meiji and Taishō eras. In collaboration with the National Institute of Japanese Literature and other organizations, Nichibunken has converted [been converting] the entire text of the Kojiruien into a database and been making it available in stages to the public. |
|
17,950 pages |
- Civil Court Rulings Files ※
|
Images of all the texts of the court rulings in civil cases from 1868 to 1890 (Meiji 1 to 23). |
|
549,101 items |
- Heian-Period Chronicles (Old Diaries, Historical Documents)
|
Database in
Database in kundoku (“Japanese” or explanatory reading) of the full texts of diaries and other old records from the middle part of the Heian period.
Shōyūki (diary of Fujiwara no Sanesuke);
Gonki (diary of Fujiwara no Yukinari);
Midō Kanpakuki (diary of Fujiwara no Michinaga);
Sakeiki (diary of Minamoto no Tsuneyori);
Shunki (diary of Fujiwara no Sukefusa), etc.
|
|
14,126 items |
- Illustrated Record of the Iwakura Embassy 1871-73
|
The illustrations and the text that refers to them in the Bei-Ō kairan jikki (The Iwakura Embassy), compiled by Kume Kunitake and published in 1878. |
 |
317 items |
-
Kinsei Kijinden (Prominent Figures of Our Times)
|
Digitized full text and illustrations of the Kinsei kijinden (parts 1 and 2, published in the 1790s),a collection of biographies of Edo-period figures(artists,poets,etc.).Chinese and kana characters in the old form have been replaced with present-day equivalents. Characters not in the JIS Code have been replaced with JIS Code characters having the same meaning and pronunciation. |
|
97 items |
- Korean Photo Picture Postcards
|
Picture postcards of Korea published 1900-1940 (collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto; former researcher at the Koryo Museum of Art, Kyoto) are presented in digital format together with publication data and other details. |
|
6,516 items |
- Letters Addressed to Inoue Tetsujirō ※
|
Database containing letters addressed to philosopher Inoue Tetsujirō (1856-1944) from prominent figures in academia and other members of intellectual elite over the six decades from 1882 to 1941. |
|
140 items |
- Medieval Zen Texts
|
Digitalized text for Zen-related works of the medieval era. Currently it provides the full text of Gidō Shūshin's Kūge rōshi nichiyō kufū ryakushū, Kokan Shiren's Jūzen Shiroku, Zoku zen Shiroku, and Ryōsen Ryōzui's Kaizō Oshō Kinenroku. |
|
2,351 items |
- Overseas Japanese-language Newspapers
|
Digital data of Japanese newspapers published outside of Japan. Nine newspapers published in San Francisco, Argentina, and Brazil are now available in digital format. |
|
15,522 items |
- Haikai
|
The major haikai collections, including those of Bashō and Buson. This material, collected over many years by Seta Katsuhiro of the Nara National College of Technology, was donated to Nichibunken in support of Japanese studies. |
|
25,652 items |
-
Renga
|
Contains all renga collections composed before the Eiroku era (up until the death of renga poet Sōyō in 1563) and the major works composed from the Eiroku era until the Bakumatsu period. This material, collected over many years by Professor Seta Katsuhiro of the Nara National College of Technology, has been donated to Nichibunken in support of Japanese studies. |
|
197,228 items |
- Renga Association Examples
|
Database of renga-associated vocabulary, created by extracting, from the verses recorded in Nichibunken’s renga database, the lexical patterns that appear in the preceding stanza (maeku) and the linking stanza (tsukeku) that is added to it. Users of this database can search these lexical patterns either using the maeku/tsukeku or verse collection title. The database is linked a digitized version of “Rensō goi yōrei jiten” (Dictionary of Usage of Associated Vocabulary) included in Yamada Shōji and Iwai Shigeki, eds., Renga no hassō rensō goi yōrei jiten to sono nettowāku kaiseki,the Nichibunken Japanese Studies Series (No. 38) |
|
- |
- Waka
|
Contains all twenty-one imperial anthologies, including Man'yōshū, and major private waka collections such as Fuboku wakashū. This material, collected by Seta Katsuhiro over many years, was donated to Nichibunken in support of Japanese studies. |
|
190,423 items |
| Medical History-related Materials |
- Noma Archives (Rare European Medical Books)
|
Database of the Noma Collection, including sixteenth-century books on human anatomy, donated to Nichibunken by the Noma Research Archives for Science and Medicine (closed in 2003). |
|
73 items |
- Sōda Archives: Pictorial and Miscellaneous Materials
|
Mainly illustrations from the Sōda Archives of books and illustrations relating to histories of medicine and pharmacy collected by the late Sōda Hajime (1921-1996), an authority on the history of medicine. |
|
1,104 items |
- Rōkyoku (Naniwabushi) Digital Archive
|
The archive contains approximately 10,000 standard-playing (SP) records of rōkyoku (naniwabushi) songs released from 1903 to the mid-1960s. Database also includes original records, label images, posters, and other rōkyoku-related materials. Only original sound recordings for which copyright protection has expired are freely available to the public. |
|
Original sound recordings:1,718, Label images:5,533, Rōkyoku-related materials:50 |
Other Search Engines / Databases
- Kigo Keyword Search
|
This database, which contains more than 35,000 kigo (seasonal words) entries, has been developed as a search tool for Nichibunken’s waka, renga, and haikai databases. It can be used separately to search for kigo words. |
|
35,811 items |
- Nichibunken Library
|
Bibliographic information on books and periodicals from around the world, held at Nichibunken, providing an almost complete picture of written materials and images in the Nichibunken collection. |
|
- |
- Overseas Japanese Studies Institutions
|
Information on Japanese studies institutions around the world. |
 |
1,655 items |
