Research Guides: Japanese Studies: Historical Primary Sources

Finding Japanese History Materials

Browsing the Stacks:

DS801-897 Japan
- DS833-891.5 History
- DS894.215-897 Local history and description

Searching the Catalog: (LC Subject Headings - general)

Japan -- History
Japan--Historiography
Japan--History, Military
Japan--Civilization
World War, 1939-1945--Japan
Nationalism -- Japan
Japan--Religious life and customs
Women--Japan--History

Primary Source Material

National Diet Library Digital Collections 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション
A portal to the digitized collections of the National Diet Library, including rare and old books, newspapers from post-3.11 Tohoku, dissertations, materials relating to the Occupation period, and materials relating to the Constitution.
East Asian Collection (UW-Madison)
Images that document early 20th century China including the the Sino-Japanese Conflict (1937-1945), a visual history of Buddhist practices and temples in China, and other images of daily life in both rural and urban China.
Masao Maruyama Collection Digital Manuscript Archive 丸山眞男文庫　草稿類デジタルアーカイブ
The Masao Maruyama Collection Digital Manuscript Archive provides the public with the opportunity to search materials other than books and periodicals in the collection (manuscripts and notes) and to access their images.The collection includes roughly 6,200 manuscripts and notes that were in the personal possession of Masao Maruyama (1914-1996), one of postwar Japan’s leading intellectuals.
Japanese Manuscript Collection (Yale)
Over 700 Japanese manuscripts assembled by Asakawa Kan'ichi 朝河貫一 (1873-1948), the first Japanese professor of History and Curator of the East Asian collections in the Yale Library.
Yale Association of Japan Collection
A collection of Japanese rare books, scrolls, manuscripts, documents, calligraphy, and artifacts donated by Japanese Yale alumni group, the Yale Association of Japan (YAJ).
Gerhard Pulverer Collection of Illustrated Japanese Books
The Pulverer Collection, acquired in its entirety by the Freer Gallery of Art in 2007, includes numerous rare and pristine examples of Japanese illustrated books produced in the Edo period and beyond. For more than thirty years Dr. Gerhard Pulverer, a renowned medical researcher in Germany, and his wife Rosemarie traveled the world and assembled the collection. Their holdings of more than 900 titles encompass almost 2,200 volumes that range in date from the early seventeenth century to the 1970s. Today the Pulverer Collection is regarded as one of the most outstanding and comprehensive collections of Japanese illustrated books outside Japan.
One Hundred Poets Digital Collection
The digital collection consists at present of 74 books and 20 different card sets relating to the poetry anthology Hyakunin Isshu 百人一首 (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, hereafter HNIS), edited by the famous poet and scholar, Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) in the 1230s. It is unquestionably the most famous poetry anthology in the Japanese tradition.
Rare book collection 貴重書コレクション (University of Tsukuba)
Images of rare books etc which are held by Tsukuba University Library. Currently you can see images of 18,127 volumes of materials.
National Diet Library Modern Japanese Political History Materials Digital Collection
This collection includes materials of the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room, which originally belonged to political leaders, senior civil servants and military officers, etc. Some of these materials have been used in the NDL's digital exhibitions. Each collection bears its former owner's name.
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library provides multilingual format, significant primary materials from all countries and cultures.
Japan Center for Asian Historical Records
JACAR offers special web exhibitions and other thematic explorations that focus on the documents and records relating to the important historical events and persons.

HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
Note, you must use the instructions below to access Hathi Trust:

Go to the HathiTrust homepage.
Click on the yellow 'Log In' button.
Select FSU from the drop-down menu and click 'Continue.'
Enter your FSU ID and password and click 'Continue.'

FSU users have full-text access and downloading capabilities for those items in the public domain, including:

US federal government documents
Works published before 1923
Works still protected by copyright, but made available to HathiTrust with the permission of the copyright holder

See also: Research Guide: HathiTrust Digital Library

Abbreviation: hathi
Vendor: HathiTrust
Coverage: 1564–Current
Subjects: *General / Multi-Subject
Type: E-Book Collections, E-Journal Collections

Waseda University Database of Japanese and Chinese Classics 早稲田大学古典籍総zデータベース
The Waseda University Database of Japanese and Chinese Classics contains a variety of classical, early modern, and modern texts, held by Waseda, ranging from non-fiction to literature and art.

World Bank
Search for relevant information by topic, i.e. Environment, or by country
National Security Archive: Sources on Asia
Browse the China and East Asia Electronic Briefing Books (EEBSs) or search for your country/topic for relevant information.
Wilson Center Digital Archive
Collection of documents covering the Cold War in Europe, East Asia and the Mideast; some translated and others in original foreign language.

OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new window
OECD iLibrary is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) featuring its books, papers, and statistics and is the gateway to OECD’s analysis and data. Browse by theme or country.
Tutorials:
User Guide

Subjects include:
Agriculture and Food
Development
Economics
Education
Employment
Energy
Environment
Finance and Investment
Governance
Industry and Services
Nuclear Energy
Science and Technology
Social Issues/Migration/Health
Taxation
Trade
Transport
Urban, Rural and Regional Development

Abbreviation: sourceoecd
Vendor: OECD
Subjects: Anthropology, Art, Business, Communication, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Demography and Population Studies, Economics, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Geography, Higher Education, Human Development & Family Science, Information Studies, International Affairs, Law, Music Education, Political Science, Psychology, Public Administration and Policy, Public Health, Retail Entrepreneurship, Sociocultural and International Education, Urban and Regional Planning
Type: Datasets / Statistics, Directories, E-Book Collections, E-Journal Collections

National Diet Library Official Gazettes Digital Collection
Japanese official gazettes are included in this collection from the first issue published on July 2, 1883 to the issue of April 30, 1952.
National Diet Library Modern Japanese Political History Materials Digital Collection
This collection includes materials of the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room, which originally belonged to political leaders, senior civil servants and military officers, etc. Some of these materials have been used in the NDL's digital exhibitions. Each collection bears its former owner's name.
National Archive of Japan Constitution Collection
Statistics Bureau of Japan 総務省統計局
The Statistics Bureau designs, conducts, and disseminates the official censuses and surveys in Japan, including the Population Census, Internal Migration Statistics, and housing and land surveys.
The Portal site of statistical data in Japan 統計データ・ポータルサイト
Gateway to official statistics from the Japanese government
Bank of Japan 日本銀行
Links to reports, opinion surveys, publications, and statistics from the Bank of Japan.
National Diet Library Government Documents
Annual Reports, Law Reports, Legal Materials, Japanese local assembly documents, Japanese parliamentary documents, Official Statistics, Parliamentry Documents, Statutory Documents of local governments White Papers
White Papers 白書
From 1996 to present.

Images / Photographs

Artstor (changing to JSTOR) This link opens in a new window
Artstor was a digital library with more than 1.5 million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.
Artstor retired on August 1, 2024—all content, resources, and functionality has moved to JSTOR. For more information, see the Artstor migration guide and Artstor on JSTOR videos. Artstor content is available at Artstor on JSTOR.
The ARTstor Digital Library is used by educators, scholars, and students at a variety of institutions including universities, colleges, museums, public libraries, and K-12 schools. The Digital Library serves users both within the arts and in disciplines outside of the arts. This includes historians of art and architecture and others engaged in the visual arts, as well as individuals in fields as diverse as American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Literary Studies, Medieval Studies, Music, Religious Studies, and Renaissance Studies, all of whom find the images in ARTstor to be relevant to their teaching and research.

Tutorials:
Using ARTstor
Training videos on YouTube

Abbreviation: artstor
Vendor: ARTstor
Subjects: Archaeology, Architecture, Art Education, Art History, Art Therapy, Classics, Cultural Heritage, Interior Design, Museum Studies, Studio Art
Type: Images

Botanical and Cultural Images of Eastern Asia, 1907-1927
Over 4,500 botanical and cultural images of Eastern Asian.
East Asia Image Collection
The East Asia Image Collection, edited by Paul D. Barclay, is an open-access archive of digitized photographs, negatives, postcards, and slides of imperial Japan (1868-1945), its Asian empire (1895-1945) and occupied Japan (1947-52). Images of Taiwan 台湾, Japan 日本, China 中国, Korea 朝鮮, Manchuria 満洲国, and Indonesia are included. - See more at: http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/eastasia#sthash.HfthLZb0.dpuf
Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period (Nagasaki University)
Japanese Old Photographs of the Bakumatsu-Meiji Periods collection at the Nagasaki University Library is the largest collection of old photographs, approximately 7,000, taken all over Japan from the Bakumatsu through to the Meiji period.
Mainichi Photo Bank 毎日フォトバンク
Japan's largest digital photo database. Mainichi Photo Bank archives valuable photographs and charts since the end of the Tokugawa period and add new ones everyday. Searching and browsing is free.
National Diet Library Online Gallery
The NDL Gallery features electronic exhibitions of the NDL's unique collections with easy-to-understand explanations.
Nichibunken Early Photographs Database
Hand-colored photographs of Japan and accompanying text dating from the end of the Edo period through the beginning of the Meiji period.
Japan Archives ジャパンアーカイブズ
Japan Archives contains historical photographs and images from 1850 to present.

Maps

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection - Asian Historical Maps
Links to Asian historical maps.
Gaihozu Map Digital Archive (Tohoku University)
This website provides graphical data and bibliographical information of “Gaihozu”, Japanese military and imperial maps.
Japanese Historical Maps Collection (UC Berkeley)
A collection of 2,298 maps which had been assembled by Mitsui Takakata (penname: Soken) (1882-1950), the 9th head of the Shinmachi branch of the family.
Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era (University of British Columbia)
UBC Library's Rare Books and Special Collections holds one of the world's largest collections of maps and guidebooks of the Japanese Tokugawa period, ca. 1600-1867
National Archives of Japan Classic Maps Collection
The Tokugawa Shogunate ordered four times in years of Keicho, Shoho, Genroku and Tempo to prepare maps of every "kuni" (country) all over Japan.
National Archives of Japan Dai Nihon Kaigan jissokuzu 大日本海岸実測図
A collection of copperplate marine charts made in the early Meiji period. The collection contains charts that were made in the years up to and including 1878.
Nichibunken Map Collection
This database contains images of maps in the Nichibunken collection, with an emphasis on Edo period urban maps.

Microform Collections:

For microform collections of Japanese newspapers do a subject heading search in the library catalog for Japan and limit format to microform. Then further narrow yor results by format to newspapers. Many of these titles must be requested from the Center of Research Libraries which can be done directly from the catalog record.

Digital Collections:

Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new window
Japan News 2001-Current, Japan Times 1999-Current, JCN Network 2005-Current, Kyodo News International 2004-Current
Log into NewsBank and create an account to save your search history, save articles, save searches, and create Email alerts.

To Create an Alert
- Enter a search that you're interested in.
- On the results page click on Set up an Alert.
- Choose to create the alert as a registered user or without registering.
- Specify the frequency by which you'd like to receive your alerts.
- If there are new results, NewsBank will send them to you in an email.
Please note that FSU does not having a data-mining subscription with Newsbank. Downloading entire series or papers is prohibited.

Abbreviation: awn
Vendor: NewsBank
Coverage: 1903–Current
Subjects: Communication, Hospitality
Type: Newspapers and Newswires

Japan Newspaper Museum Archive 日本新聞博物館アーカイブ
Provides several historical newspaper collections
Newspaper Clipping Collection (Kobe University)
Newspaper Article is the newspaper-clippings data from the end of Meiji to Showa 45 it was created by Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, and is called "newspaper-clippings library". scrapbooks hard collected over 60 years or more has a huge quantity of about 500,000 affairs, if it is made into about 3200 volumes and the number of reports.
Nikkei Newspapers Digital Archive
A project of the Hokubei Hochi (North American Post) Foundation and the University of Washington Libraries. The goal of the project is to make accessible two significant newspapers which tell the story of Japanese immigration and Japanese American community life in Seattle and beyond, from 1902 to 1950, and continuing to the present day.

Yomiuri shinbun 讀賣新聞 by Tōkyō : Yomiuri Shinbunsha
Call Number: E-resource
Publication Date: October 2004 - October 2013
The Nikkei weekly by Tokyo, Japan : Nihon Keizai Shimbun
Call Number: E-resource
Publication Date: 1991-2013
Japan's leading business newspaper.

Kyodo News International
Covers the ever-changing developments in Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world, distributing news to domestic and overseas news media as well as international organizations and institutions. 3/30/2004-Present
Japan Times online
At Japan Times website, search available from 1996 to present
Mainichi Shinbun 毎日新聞 Online
The Mainichi Shimbun (毎日新聞 Mainichi Shinbun, literally "Daily News") is one of the major newspapers in Japan founded in 1922.