The is the

national library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...

of Japan and among the largest libraries in the world. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the in researching matters of public policy. The library is similar in purpose and scope to the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. The National Diet Library (NDL) consists of two main facilities in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, and several other branch libraries throughout Japan.

History

The National Diet Library is the successor of three separate libraries: the library of the House of Peers, the library of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, both of which were established at the creation of Japan's Imperial Diet in 1890; and the Imperial Library, which had been established in 1872 under the jurisdiction of the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. The Diet's power in prewar Japan was limited, and its need for information was "correspondingly small". The original Diet libraries "never developed either the collections or the services which might have made them vital adjuncts of genuinely responsible legislative activity". Until Japan's defeat, moreover, the executive had controlled all political documents, depriving the people and the Diet of access to vital information. The U.S. occupation forces under General Douglas MacArthur deemed reform of the Diet library system to be an important part of the democratization of Japan after its defeat in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1946, each house of the Diet formed its own National Diet Library Standing Committee. Hani Gorō, a Marxist historian who had been imprisoned during the war for thought crimes and had been elected to the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...

(the successor to the abolished House of Peers) after the war, spearheaded the reform efforts. Hani envisioned the new body as "both a 'citadel of popular sovereignty, and the means of realizing a "peaceful revolution". The Occupation officers responsible for overseeing library reforms reported that, although the Occupation was a catalyst for change, local initiative pre-existed the Occupation, and the successful reforms were due to dedicated Japanese like Hani. The National Diet Library opened in June 1948 in the present-day State Guest-House (former Akasaka Detached Palace) with an initial collection of 100,000 volumes. The first Librarian of the Diet Library was the politician Tokujirō Kanamori. The philosopher

Masakazu Nakai (14 February 1900 - 18 May 1952) was a Japanese aesthetician, film theorist, librarian, and social activist. Career Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, Nakai studied philosophy at Kyoto University, particularly aesthetics under Yasukazu Fukuda. He st ...

served as the first Vice Librarian. In 1949, the NDL merged with the National Library (previously called the Imperial Library) and became the only national library in Japan. At this time the collection gained an additional million volumes previously housed in the former National Library in

Ueno is a district in Tokyo's Taitō Ward, best known as the home of Ueno Park. Ueno is also home to some of Tokyo's finest cultural sites, including the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, and the National Museum of Na ...

. In 1961, the NDL opened at its present location in

Nagatachō is a district of Tokyo, Japan, located in Chiyoda Ward. It is the location of the Diet of Japan and the Prime Minister's residence ( Kantei). The Supreme Court of Japan is located in neighboring Hayabusachō. Nagatachō is often used to ref ...

, adjacent to the National Diet. In 1986, the NDL's Annex was completed to accommodate a combined total of 12 million books and periodicals. The Kansai-kan (the Kansai Library), which opened in October 2002 in the

Kansai Science City is an unincorporated city located in the , a border region between Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara Prefectures in Kansai region, Japan. The name is commonly shortened to or . The name Keihanna is constructed by extracting a representative kanji from Kyo ...

(

Seika is a form of ''ikebana''. Written with the same ''kanji'' characters, it is also pronounced and known as ''Shōka''. History The painter Sōami and the art patron and ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshimasa were supporters of the style as early as ...

Town, Sōraku County, Kyoto Prefecture), has a collection of 6 million items. In May 2002, the NDL opened a new branch, the

International Library of Children's Literature The is a branch of the National Diet Library in Japan, which provides library services specializing in children's books. It was established in 2000 as Japan's first national library specializing in children's books. It is the center and internat ...

, in the former building of the Imperial Library in Ueno. This branch contains some 400,000 items of children's literature from around the world. Though the NDL's original mandate was to be a research library for the National Diet, the general public is the largest consumer of the library's services. In the fiscal year ending March 2004, for example, the library reported more than 250,000 reference inquiries; in contrast, it recorded only 32,000 requests for research from the National Diet. In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the NDL suspended library services to the public on March 5, 2020. The NDL reopened to the public on June 11, 2020 with a maximum of 200 visitors per day based on a lottery-style drawing, with prospective visitors being required to register beforehand for a chance to be selected.

Main collection

As Japan's national library, the NDL collects copies of all publications published in Japan. Moreover, because the NDL serves as a

research library A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...

for Diet members, their staffs, and the general public, it maintains an extensive collection of materials published in foreign languages on a wide range of topics.

Important special collections

The NDL also has eight major specialized collections: Modern Political and Constitutional History; Materials Concerning the Postwar Occupation of Japan; Laws and Preliminary Records; Science and Technology; Maps; Music; Foreign Books About Japan; and Rare Books.

Modern political and constitutional history

The Modern Political and Constitutional History Collection comprises some 300,000 items related to Japan's political and legal modernization in the 19th century, including the original document archives of important Japanese statesmen from the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century like

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated samu ...

Iwakura Tomomi was a Japanese statesman during the Bakumatsu and Meiji period. He was one of the leading figures of the Meiji Restoration, which saw Japan's transition from feudalism to modernity. Born to a noble family, he was adopted by the influential Iwa ...

Sanjō Sanetomi Prince was a Japanese Imperial court noble and statesman at the time of the Meiji Restoration. He held many high-ranking offices in the Meiji government. Biography Born in Kyoto, Sanjō was the son of ''Naidaijin'' Sanjō Sanetsumu. He hel ...

Mutsu Munemitsu Count was a Japanese statesman and diplomat in Meiji period Japan. Early life Mutsu Munemitsu was born in Wakayama domain, Kii Province as the sixth son of Date Munehiro, a ''samurai'' retainer of the Kii Tokugawa clan. His father was acti ...

Terauchi Masatake Gensui Count Terauchi Masatake ( ja, 寺内正毅), GCB (5 February 1852 – 3 November 1919), was a Japanese military officer, proconsul and politician. He was a '' Gensui'' (or Marshal) in the Imperial Japanese Army and the Prime Minister o ...

, and other influential figures from the Meiji (1868–1912) and Taishō (1912–1926) periods.

Materials concerning the postwar occupation of Japan

The NDL has an extensive microform collection of some 30 million pages of documents relating to the Occupation of Japan after World War II. This collection include the documents prepared by

General Headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

(GHQ) and the

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) to the Japanese government, aiming to suppress its "milit ...

(SCAP), the

Far Eastern Commission The Far Eastern Commission (FEC) was an Allied commission which succeeded the Far Eastern Advisory Commission (FEAC), and oversaw the Allied Council for Japan following the end of World War II. Based in Washington, D.C., it was first agreed on at ...

(FEC), and the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Team. (The originals of these documents are in the possession of the United States National Archives.)

Laws and preliminary records

The Laws and Preliminary Records Collection consists of some 170,000 Japanese and 200,000 foreign-language documents concerning proceedings of the National Diet and the legislatures of some 70 foreign countries, and the official gazettes, statutes, judicial opinions, and international treaties pertaining to some 150 foreign countries.

Science and technology

The NDL maintains a collection of some 530,000 books and booklets and 2 million microform titles relating to the sciences. These materials include, among other things, foreign doctoral dissertations in the sciences, the proceedings and reports of academic societies, catalogues of technical standards, etc.

Maps

The NDL has a collection of approximately 440,000 maps of Japan and other countries, including the topographical, geological, and hydrological maps and charts dating back to the early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

(1868–1912) and topographical maps of foreign countries.

Music

The NDL collects all phonographic recordings made in Japan, and presently holds a collection comprising 300,000 vinyl records and 200,000 compact disks.

Foreign books about Japan

Following the tradition established by the Imperial Library, the NDL collects foreign-language materials about Japan, including rare and ancient documents, such as reports of European missionaries visiting Japan in the 16th century.

Rare books and old materials

The NDL houses the former Imperial Library's collection of Japanese language materials from the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

(1603–1867) and earlier periods. The major catalogues in this collection include: (1) some 6,000 documents relating to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

(1603–1867), such as records of town magistrates, the shogunal Supreme Court, and the

Jisha-bugyō was a "commissioner" or an "overseer" of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were always ''fudai daimyōs'', the lowest-ranking of the shogunate offices to be so restricted.Beasley, William G. (1955) ...

(Commissioners of Shrines and Temples), as well as documents concerning the succession of ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...

s''; (2) the Itō Bunko and Shirai Bunko, consisting of 8,000 handwritten and woodblock printed books dating from the Edo and Meiji periods and concerning Japanese medicine; and (3) the Shinjo Bunko, consisting of 11,000 examples of pre-modern writings on astronomy and calendars, in addition to ancient Chinese works on the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

, genealogy, and local history.

National Diet Library buildings

The Kansai-Kan

Kansai-kan (Kansai Library), which opened in Kyoto Prefecture in 2002, is the second facility of the NDL. The NDL has transferred the following collections to the Kansai-kan: most western periodicals; books and other materials in non-Japanese Asian languages; certain scientific and technological materials (technical reports, papers of foreign academic societies, catalogs of Japanese and foreign technical standards, foreign doctoral dissertations, and conference proceedings in Western languages); scientific research reports compiled under grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; Japanese doctoral dissertations; and books on tape.

National Diet Library online resources

The National Diet Library has in recent years compiled a detailed website in both Japanese and English. Its online databases consist of the National Diet Library Online Public Access Catalog (NDL-OPAC), National Diet Library Digital Collections and the Minutes of the Imperial Diet and National Diet.

National Diet Library Online Public Access Catalog (NDL-OPAC)

The NDL provides an Online Public Access Catalog (

OPAC The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with ''library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card catalogs previously ...

), by which users can search the NDL's entire collection from anywhere in the world in either English or Japanese. Using OPAC to identify sources and catalog numbers, overseas users may obtain certain materials from the NDL through

interlibrary loan Interlibrary loan (abbreviated ILL, and sometimes called interloan, interlending, document delivery, document supply, or interlibrary services, abbreviated ILS) is a service where patrons of one library can borrow materials and receive photocopies ...

. In addition, the NDL provides a fee-based reproduction service for scholars residing overseas. As of June 2017 NDL-OPAC is planned to end at the end of December 2017 and new online services will be launched.

National Diet Library Digital Collections

NDL Digital Collections provinces various online materials such as rare books, audio-visual materials and the materials whose copyrights has expired. The contents consisting of Digital Library from the Meiji Era and Rare Books Image Database (to be mentioned later) are now availablable on NDL Digital Collections. NDL Digitalized Contents was renamed to be NDL Digital Collections in 2014.

Digital Library from the Meiji Era

One of the most important features of the NDL's website is the . The Digital Library is the digital descendant of the Maruzen Meiji Microfilm, the product of an ambitious project to microfilm the NDL's entire collection of Meiji era books, a collection of some 60,000 volumes. The digital library contains actual images of these works, which are divided into ten main categories based on

Nippon Decimal Classification The Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC, also called the Nippon Decimal System) is a system of library classification developed for mainly Japanese-language books maintained and revised by the Japan Library Association since 1948. Originally devel ...

(NDC) : ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and . The images are not coded, so text searches are not possible; however, Japanese-language searches for the title, author, publisher, subject, and table of contents of the works in the database are possible. Meiji period periodicals are not included in this collection. Digital Library from the Meiji Era was merged into NDL Digital Collections in 2015.

Rare Books Image Database

The NDL's website also contains the a collection of digital images from 37,000 illustrated books published before the Edo Period. Japanese-language searches by title, author, and call-number are possible in this database. Rare Books Image Database was integrated into NDL Digitalized Contents (now NDL Digital Collections) in 2012.

Minutes of the Imperial Diet and National Diet

The NDL provides a database of the minutes of both the Imperial Diet and the National Diet, the only one of the NDL's online database that is full-text searchable. All minutes from the National Diet's inception in May 1947 through the present are searchable online. At present, only minutes from the last two (91st and 92nd) sessions of the Imperial Diet (November 1946 through May 1947) are available.

Standards

In addition to its library services, the organization is also involved in standard activities in areas related to bibliographical and search and retrieve standards. Areas of work include , National Diet Library Dublin Core Metadata Description (DC-NDL), and National Diet Library Linked Open Data (NDL LOD).

References

Sources

* This article is based on information obtained from the National Diet Library website. The section on the formation of the NDL under the U.S. Occupation forces relies heavily on Leslie Pincus, "Revolution in the Archives of Memory: The Founding of the National Diet Library in Occupied Japan" in Francis X. Blouin and William G. Rosenberg, eds., ''Archives, Documentation, and Institutions of Social Memory: Essays from the Sawyer Seminar'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006). *Kim, Chin (1969). "A New National Library: The National Diet Library of Japan". ''The Journal of Library History.'' University of Texas Press. 4 (3): 225–238.

External links

*
NDL English website

NDL Digital Archive Portal (English)

NDL Digital Collections
{{Authority control 1948 establishments in Japan Deposit libraries Education in Kyoto Government agencies established in 1948 Government of Japan Japan Libraries established in 1948 Libraries in Tokyo Japan World Digital Library partners ja:日本目録規則