The of the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

was established in 1872. Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was the only

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

in Japan. It is one of the predecessors of the current

National Diet Library The is the national library 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 ...

History

The Imperial Library of Japan was established as the 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 ...

on September 3, 1872. The library was housed within the

Yushima Seidō , is a Confucian temple () in Yushima, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was established in end of the 17th century during the Genroku era of the Edo period. Towards the late Edo period, one of the most important educational institutions of the sh ...

and combined the functions of both a library and a museum, and inherited the surviving documents held by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

prior to the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. This collection evolved into the in 1875, which was made a

deposit library Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposit ...

for all publications in Japan and was renamed the Tokyo Prefectural Library in 1877 and the Tokyo Library in 1880. It was relocated to

Ueno is a district in Taitō, Tokyo. The area extending from Ueno to Asakusa is part of the historical Shitamachi (literally "low city") district of Tokyo, which is often associated with working-class traditions and culture as well as their dist ...

in 1885. Its first director was . In 1890, then director Tanaka Inagi visited the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in the United States and major national libraries in Europe with the aim of creating a similar facility in Japan. As a result, in April 1897, the Tokyo Library was renamed the Imperial Library, and began to assume the functions of a national library. A new building to house the Imperial Library was completed on March 20, 1906 in

Ueno Park is a spacious public park in the Ueno, Tokyo, Ueno district of Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. The park was established in 1873 on lands formerly belonging to the Buddhist temples in Japan, temple of Kan'ei-ji. Amongst the country's first public parks, i ...

. At the time of the transfer, the collection contained approximately 470,000 volumes. This grew to over 1 million volumes by the end of World War II. However, from the start, the library was plagued by the lack of adequate budgets, and by lack of space to accommodate all volumes necessary. The collection escaped major damage in the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

, and was evacuated to the countryside during

and thus escaped destruction in the Tokyo air raids. , it held 244,483 books, of which 194,500 were Japanese and Chinese-language books. Due to

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

requirements, the

Home Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a Ministry (government department), government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law e ...

operated a review office in the basement of the Imperial Library. Following the end of World War II, the Imperial Library was renamed the National Library in December 1947, and was again renamed the

in 1948. The former building of the Imperial Library of Japan now houses the International Library of Children's Literature.

Publications

*Teikoku Toshokan nenpō: Annual reports of the Imperial Library of Japan (formerly Tokyo Library) 1875-1948. Published by Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan (Japan) (1974)

References

{{Authority control Libraries disestablished in the 1940s

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

1872 establishments in Japan Libraries in Japan Libraries established in 1872 1947 disestablishments in Japan