The National Archives of Japan and the State Records and Archives Department of Vietnam have jointly organized the website project “Japan and Vietnam: Archival Records on Our History”, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Japan-Vietnam diplomatic relations. One of the introduced documents is the first edition of “ViệtNam Vong Quốc Sử “ (History of the Loss of Vietnam) held at the National Archives of Japan. It was the first book written in Japan by Phan Bội Châu, one of the Vietnamese nationalist leaders at the beginning of the 20th century. This essay consists of four sections concerning this book. The first section explains how the book was written and printed. The second section briefly introduces the outline of the book, and the third section summarizes major contents in it. In the fourth section, the author pays attention to the fact that the book was published through the intimate relations between Phan Bội Châu and Liang Qichao, a Chinese politician who lived in exile in Yokohama. Their common knowledge on Chinese classics facilitated their mutual understanding. Phan Bội Châu’s deep knowledge on traditional Chinese culture also attracted Japanese intellectuals and politicians whom he met. In the last part of the fourth section, the author also pays attention to the important role of print media and the profound influence of Phan Bội Châu’s book on the Vietnamese society of that period.

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This report explains the structure of the records formerly stored at KDDI which were donated by the KDDI Corporation to the National Archives of Japan in 2014 by analyzing the Creation and Acquisition Department, and their year, contents, and area. Records formerly stored at KDDI refer to those regarding international telecommunications from the 1920s to 1940s created or acquired mainly by the Foreign Affairs Section of the Ministry of Communications. The contents include records relating to international telegraph, telephone and submarine cable communications, and wireless telecommunications, and other international telecommunication business as well as records relating to treaties, laws, and records relating to private corporations such as International Telecommunications Co. Ltd. The main regions involved were China, the United States, and Europe. The official records relating to international telecommunications, aside from the records formerly stored at KDDI, can be confirmed to be a portion of the records of the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and Postal Museum Japan. However, they all have their own unique characteristics and complement each other.

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By comparing the disclosure of the civil case records before and after their transfer to the National Archives of Japan, this paper shows the significance of this archival transfer in terms of enhanced accessibility. Chapter 1 gives an outline of the background and framework of this archival transfer to the National Archives of Japan. Chapter 2 illustrates the characteristics of the civil case records as opposed to administrative records. Chapter 3 compared the manners of their disclosure during the current-stage under the Code of Civil Procedure and during the non-current stage under the Public Records and Archives Management Act. Finally, Chapter 4 explores potential use of these civil case records as intellectual resources to be shared by the people.

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The Momijiyama Bunko was the library (private collections) of the Tokugawa Shogunate and stored precious books and documents since the time of TOKUGAWA Ieyasu. The Shomotsu Bugyo was the head of the Shomotsu Kata who maintained the holdings and the Momijiyama Bunko managed its holdings through several Shomotsu Bugyo and 10 or more Shomotsu Doshin under their command. The successive line of 90 Shomotsu Bugyo was already discussed in detail in MORI Junzaburo’s “Momijiyama Bunko and Shomotsu Bugyo” (published in 1933). At the time of the publication, the existence of the business dairies etc. was not known yet. Careful research about the people who served as Shomotsu Bugyo needs to be carried out to augment Mori’s work. This report deals with one of them, SUZUKI Hakuto (1767-1851).

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The report is a bibliographic review of literary work (medieval literature) established during the Heian period and its annotated documents established in later generations among the materials of our collection. It contains commentary on the work which has been added for it to be put into wide general use. It selected for the corresponding material from those cited in the “National Literature” items in the “Revised Classified Catalogue of Japanese Literature of the Cabinet Library. The annotated documents of “Tale of Genji” are mainly researched. There was a wide range of institutions formerly holding the material, including the Momojiyama Bunko, Shoheizaka Gakumonsho, and the Wagaku Kodansho (Institution for Lectures of the Japanese Classics), however, much of these was surmised to be in the possession of scholars of ancient Japanese literature and culture, and there were more than a few instances of the margin notes remaining. It conveys the acceptance of medieval literature during the early modern era of Japan. As for pictorial books, please refer to the Bibliography of Pictorial Books of the National Archives of Japan (1) ~ (6) in the 45th issue (2013) through 50th issue (2018) of “Kitanomaru”.

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