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List of archives in Japan

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The Shōsōin, Tōdai-ji's eighth-century treasure house in Nara (National Treasure); its holdings include over eleven thousand documents[1]

This is a list of archives (文書館, monjokan) in Japan. According to the National Archives of Japan, "archives are one of the three key pillars of culture, together with libraries and museums".[2]

Background

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Archive-like facilities and repositories for official documents known as Kan no Fudono (官文殿) existed in the Asuka period, while the Shōsōin's holdings include over 11,000 paper documents (文書, monjo).[1] The post-war period of Occupation saw the passing of the Library Act (1950) and Museum Act (1951); also in 1951, by ministerial decree, the Ministry of Education set up its Repository for Historical Documents (文部省史料館, shiryōkan) to collect old documents (古文書, komonjo) and records, the nucleus of the Department of Historical Documents at the National Institute of Japanese Literature.[1][3] 1959 saw establishment of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives (山口県文書館, Yamaguchi-ken Monjo-kan), the country's first dedicated archival institution;[1][4] from the outset it collected public administrative and governmental records (公文書, kōmonjo) as well as old documents (古文書, komonjo).[1][4] Further prefectural archives followed in Saitama, Tōkyō, and Kyōto in the 1960s, and in 1971 the National Archives were established.[1] By the end of the 1970s there were fifteen archives at the national, prefectural, and city levels.[1] The 1980s brought nine further prefectural archives and four in ordinance-designated cities,[1] while the Public Archives Act (公文書館法) was passed in 1987.[5][6] Entering into force in June the following year, the first of its seven articles stresses the "importance of preserving and providing for use public records and archives as historical materials."[5][6] Nevertheless, recent municipal mergers and dissolutions have occasioned concerns about the loss of municipal records.[7]

National Archives

Prefectural Archives

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Municipal Archives

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Ogawa Chiyoko (1991). "Archives in Japan: The State of the Art". American Archivist. 54 (4). Society of American Archivists: 546–554. doi:10.17723/aarc.54.4.k7m1t73525361r87.
  2. ^ "Outline of the National Archives". National Archives of Japan. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  3. ^ 収蔵歴史アーカイブズ利用案内 [Guide to the Historical Archives]. National Institute of Japanese Literature. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b 山口県文書館の歴史 [History of Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives] (in Japanese). Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b 公文書館法 [Public Archives Act] (in Japanese). Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Public Archives Act". National Archives of Japan. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  7. ^ Koga, Takashi (2007). "Overview of Archives and Archival Issues in Japan". pp. 6 f. hdl:2433/72837.
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