National Archives of Japan
The Japanese National Archives (Japanese国立 公文 书馆, Kokuritsu Kōbunsho -kan, Eng. National Archives of Japan) has the usual function of the evaluation, classification, processing of government documents that were submitted for permanent storage. The stored materials are available, there are also regularly shown in exhibitions stocks. Total stock 545,000 volumes.
Genesis
In Japan, legislation has been enacted in the Meiji period, first, who founded the archives of the respective ministries. After the Second World War, when exploring in particular the recent history of a primary task was, it was necessary to collect the scattered documents or to reconstruct the previous lost. So it came about that in November 1959 the Japanese Science Council ( Nihon gakujutsu kaigi ) a proposal addressed to the Prime Minister to set up a National Archives.
On the other hand, has existed since the 7th year (1874 ) of the Meiji government an archive of the center of government, which was in 1886 with the establishment of a ministerial cabinet to the archive of the cabinets. There are also Japanese and Chinese classics and old documents were kept and made available to the research (see below). These stocks were actually in a library, but were adopted after the establishment of the National Archives of this. This gives the National Archives in comparison to foreign institutions its special coloring.
On March 31, 1971, the necessary changes in the law were changed to the Office of the Prime Minister and the National Archives, declared as a part of the Office institution. The Act came into force on 1 July of the same year. The transfer of government documents, their storage and disclosure is made on the basis of agreements with the Liaison Committee in the individual minister and offices. In principle, the stored materials are disclosed 30 years after their date of creation.
The Collection
Essentially following government documents are stored:
From the collection of the Cabinet Library following important stocks are kept, among other things:
- Stocks from the period before 1868, the shogunate government of,
- Holdings of Momijiyama library (红叶 山 文库)
- Stocks of Shōheizaka - Office (昌平 坂 学问 所)
- Stocks of study location for ancient Japanese literature (和 学 讲 谈 所)
- Stocks of the Medical Office (医学 间)
- Stocks from the Todai Temple (东大寺) and the Daijoin (大乘 院) (both in Nara ) and the Koyasan (高 野山)
- Holdings of Ninagawa (蜷 川) - and the Kutsuki (朽木) family,
- Holdings of the princely families Oshikōji (押 小路), Hirohashi (広 桥), Bojo (坊 城), Madenokōji (万里 小路) Kanroji (甘露寺) Nakamikado (中 御 门), Yamashina (山 科)
- Diaries and law collections of the Bakufu, the Western materials that had been pulled out of the Meiji government for help and their translations, as well as government publications.
The archive has opened up the collection of the Cabinet through a series of catalogs. From a series of works also facsimile editions were created. Among them are about 30 collections, which are declared as Important Cultural Property.
The National Archives is located in Tokyo in a modern building (4 floors above ground, two storeys below ground ) on the north site of the former Shogun residence. It is open Monday to Friday from 9 - 17 open clock, on Saturdays until 12:30. Lending of materials for study, training is possible under certain conditions.