East Asian Library Electronic Resources: Japanese Databases

Online-edition Edogawa Ranpo Harimaze Nenpu 「オンライン版　江戸川乱歩『貼雑年譜』」
Primary resources collected by Edogawa Ranpo mostly from Taisho to Showa. The collection includes personal letters, documents from Taisei yokusankai (大政翼賛会), Nihon bungaku hokokukai (日本文学報国会), and notifications circulated in Tonarigumi (隣組) which he served as a vice chairman. The original collection is held at Rikkyo University the Edogawa Rampo Memorial Center for Popular Culture Studies.
URL: https://login.ezproxy.princeton.edu/login?url=https://j-dac.jp/infolib/meta_pub/G0000022sakkajihitsu

Note: When you search the database, please click on 江戸川乱歩『貼雑年譜』

Online-edition of Historical materials of the Defense Agency 「オンライン版 防衛政策史資料」
The collection of historical materials of the Defense Agency which transferred to the National Archives in 2005. It contains the portion of the memoirs and testimonies of former members of the Defense Agency and the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
URL: https://login.ezproxy.princeton.edu/login?url=https://j-dac.jp/boeiseisaku/index.html

Both trials are available on and off campus.

Trial period:  until January 11, 2024

A collection of Japanese articles in the early 20th century about the Opium War of 1840-1842. This collection may be viewed from the main computer cluster in the EAL.  A printed guide Tōa Dōbunkai Tōa Dōbun Shoin ahen shiryō shūsei mokuji  is also available at the Japanese Bibliographer’s Office.

The Bijutsu Shinpo, published from 1902 (Meiji 35) to 1920 (Taisho 9), was a journal of modern Japanese art and modern culture which was not exclusively on the art of Japan, but also treated painting, sculpture, crafts and calligraphy from the ancient to contemporary periods of the East and West.  The Web Bijutsu Shinpo contains 19 years’ worth of articles, illustrations, photographs, news items and miscellaneous entries such as advertisements and obituaries. It also has an index of about 68,000 proper nouns, searchable by keyword.

Accessible within the JapanKnowledge Lib (click on login).

A literary magazine published in 1895 integrating with several journals and run until 1933. Bungei Kurabu contains many literary works by Izumi Kyoka, Ozaki Koyo, Tayama Katai, Yamada Bimyo, Higuchi Ichiyo etc. as well as theaters, rakugo, and kodan. This database includes 457 issues and 150 extra issues covering Meiji-hen from 1895 to 1912.

Searchable index to the printed collection, which includes reduced copies of articles on China in less common Japanese academic journals. This collection may be viewed from the main computer cluster in the EAL.

Japanese scholarly journal index. It includes National Diet Library Zasshi Kiji Sakuin (journal article index), thesis, research bulletins, and academic societies’ papers. A large number of full texts are available mostly in science, technology, and medicine.

Bibliographic database of books and journals held in Japanese academic and research libraries. It provides information not only on current publications but also on rare books, foreign books, CDs, and DVDs.

• CiNii Dissertations

Database that lets you search for information on dissertations written for doctoral degrees in Japan conferred by Japanese Universities and the National Institute for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education.

The Dai Kan-Wa Jiten (generally referred to as Morohashi) is a major dictionary for Kanji and compound words with a focus on classical and literary Chinese.
This electronic version is published as one of the JK Books which is released in two phases: phase 1 in 2021 and Phase 2 in 2023. Basic Search for 50,000 entry characters (親字) and Combined Search by parent character, Dai Kan-Wa number (大漢和番号), radical (部首), total number of strokes (総画数) and components (部品) are available in the phase 1. Vocabulary search (語彙検索) will be developed in the Phase 2. Cross-search is available with other JK Books dictionaries in JapanKnowledge such as Nihon rekishi chimei taikei, Kokushi Daijiten, Kadokawa kogo daijiten, Sekai daihyakka jiten, Kadokawa Nihon chimei daijiten, and Shinpen Kokka taikan.

This graphic magazine of Japanese manners and customs was originally published from 1889 to 1916. Fuzoku gaho contains illustrations, photographs, and cartoons that describe Japanese cultural life during the Meiji and Taisho periods. The database covers the complete issues of Fuzoku gaho including special issues.

The Gunsho ruijū series includes the Gunsho ruijū, the Zoku Gunsho ruijū and the Zoku Zoku Gunsho ruijū.

The three Gunsho ruijū series in total consist of 3,750 works covering law, politics, economics, education, ethics, regional studies, history, literature, art, music, culture and entertainment. The first series was published from 1793 to 1819 by Hanawa Hokiichi, the sequel in 1821 by his son Hanawa Tadatomi, and the last series appeared from 1903 to 1909.

The Web version of the Gunsho ruijū is searchable using modern characters (新字), and text can be copied. The three series are included in the Japan Knowledge Lib, alongside other reference works and series such as, among other titles,  the Nihon kokugo daijiten, Kokushi daijiten, Shinpen Nihon kokugo bungaku zenshū, and Nihon rekishi chimei taikei.

The default basic search searches all titles available in Japan Knowledge Lib. To limit yourself to searching the Gunsho ruijū only, choose “shosai (kobetsu) kensaku” in the navigation bar. To browse, choose the “hondana.” Pages are retrieved in pdf form, but the OCR’d text is available under “tekisuto” at its right, and copyable from there.

Includes Japanese literary works translated into other languages mainly from the end of World War II to the 1990s and is searchable by author, original title, translator, and other keywords.

JapanKnowledge Lib is a collection of Japanese reference resources that includes encyclopedias, language and biographical dictionaries, geographic dictionaries, who's who databases, and others.  The major encyclopedias and dictionaries are Kodansha Encyclopedia Japan, Nihon daihyakka zensho,  Nihon kokugo daijiten, Jitsu, Kokushi daijiten, Gunsho ruiju, and Nihon rekishi chimei taikei.  JapanKnowledge Lib also provides digital book collections; Toyo bunko, Shinpen Nihon koten bungaku zenshu, and Kojiruien, and major journal collections such as Fūzoku gahō, Taiyo, Bungei Kurabu, Koyukai zasshi, and Takita Choin kyuzo kindai sakka genkoshu. 

The Japan Statistical Yearbook is the summary of current statistical information of Japan with comprehensive fields. This site links to Historical Statistics Japan as well. The interface is in English and some contents are bilingual.

Jinbutsu Sōsho is a collection of biographies of historical figures in Japan edited by the Nihon Rekishi Gakkai (The Society of Japanese history). It contains 270 volumes/persons from ancient to contemporary times within a wide range of areas such as politics, economics, literature, religion and art. Accessible from within JapanKnowledge Lib.

See under JapanKnowledge Lib.

This is a scanned version of the Keijō Nippō (Kyŏngsŏng Ilbo, also spelled Kungsung Ilbo), a Japanese language newspaper published in Korea during the Occupation Period. Current content is from 1907 to 1935. Access is by date only; results are in pdf format.

Formerly Kikuzo bijuaru II for libraries. A searchable newspaper database for the Asahi shinbun. It covers texts (in image format) from the Asahi Shinbun from 1879 to 1989, texts (in text format) from 1984 until present, and texts and images from November 2005. The 1879-1989 articles are searchable by headings and assigned topics only, the articles from 1984 are fully searchable. The weekly journal Aera and the news column of Shūkan Asahi are included, as is the latest edition of Chiezō, the annual dictionary of new words. To log-in, click on "スタート画面へ (SSL)". At this moment, access is for one concurrent user only; please make sure to log out when you are done.

A set of antiquarian book catalogs sent out  to customers by Shigeo Sorimachi, founder of the antiquarian bookstore Kōbunsō. The digital collection contains 77 volumes, with 20,312 items, published from 1933 to 1984. The catalogs are full of detailed bibliographical information and contain a wealth of illustrations, making them a useful reference for philological and bibliographical studies.

Available from within JapanKnowledge Lib (click on log-in).

The English-language Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan is based on Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (1993), and contains almost all 11,000 main-text entries of that book, many updated. It has numerous hyperlinks, but does not contain any illustrations, nor the bibliographies of the earlier 9-volume Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, published in 1983. It therefore does not completely supersede either of these works. Moreover, access is through JapanKnowledge Lib, and hence, the interface is in Japanese, making it less useful for users who do not know Japanese.

Koyukai zasshi is a campus journal which was published in the Daiichi Koto Gakko from 1890 to 1944. The total number of contributors is 2,200 which includes politicians, philosophers, and writers who played important roles later.

This is a dictionary of various cursive forms of Japanese characters. The user can enter characters directly from the keyboard, or draw them using the mouse. This program may be used from the main computer cluster in the catalog room of the EAL.

A collection of links to Internet resources on Japanese law. This database may be accessed from the main computer cluster in the catalog room of the EAL.

This is the major collection of Japanese databases. MagazinePlus currently indexes several million articles from thousands of journal titles in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. It is updated weekly. It consolidates five separate databases (the Zasshi Kiji Sakuin (an index to academic journas), the Jānaru Indekkusu (an index to general journals), Joint (an index to periodicals on economics), KSK (an index to 60 foreign journals on industries), and the Gakkai Nenpō and Gakujutsu Ronbunshū (an index to yearbooks of academic societies).

The Mainichi Shinbun is one of the 3 major Japanese newspapers and Japan's oldest daily newspaper. This database provides the following contents: Mainichi Shinbun (1872-); Weekly Economist (1989-; images in reduced size edition are available from 1989-1999); and The Mainichi (English) (2008-; interface is only in Japanese). One can also browse today’s news and breaking news.

Electronic edition of the "Historial Statistics of Japan", which is also availble in print form in the Reference Room at HC462.7.N475 2006q. The electronic version has a browsable interface and includes Excel spreadsheets of all of the statistics. This program may be used from the main computer cluster in the catalog room of the EAL.

See under JapanKnowledge Lib.

See under JapanKnowledge Lib.

Nihon shinrei (日本心霊), the bulletin of the Spirit Society of Japan (1915 – 1939) contains articles from a wide range of fields such as medicine, religion, and literature on the topic of spirit. The original issues were compiled by Jimbun Shoi and annotated by Hidehiko Kurita (Bukkyo University)

This is a pay-per-use online business information database, with newspaper and some journal articles, as well as pertinent information on companies, businessmen, and statistics, etc. Contact the Japanese Bibliographer at the East Asian Library.

Onrain-ban Goto Shinpei monjo「オンライン版 後藤新平文書」is an archival collection of documents created by Goto Shinpei, a Japanese politician, physician, and cabinet minister of the Taisho and early Showa period.

Please note: the Onrain-ban Goto Shinpei monjo are part of a larger cross-searchable database on modern and contemporary materials and Princeton currently only has access to Yuho Bunko, Miki Takeo, Ichikawa Fusae, and Tokyo Saiban of this larger collection.

Prefectural Statistics Online (PSO) is a digital archive of prefectural statistics hosted by the Japan Digital Archives Center (J-DAC). It includes various categories such as population, agriculture, industrial etc. The statistics have been collected annually in each prefecture since the Meiji era. PSO covers the time span from Meiji to Shōwa era (1873-1972).

"The Rafu Shimpo" (羅府新報, L.A. Japanese Daily News) is the preeminent and longest-running Japanese American newspaper in the United States. The paper was first published in 1903 supporting the Japanese community in Los Angeles, California and became the most widely circulated paper in the region by the 1940's. It also included a weekly English section for second generation Japanese Americans. The coverage of the Rafu Shimpo Digital Archives runs through 2018 with various resources for Japanese history and the Japanese American émigré community and its history, such as announcements of births, marriages, and deaths mainly from California. This digital archive contains content from 1914 onward, with an additional year’s worth of content added on an annual basis.

E-book version of the Iwanami Shin Nihon koten bungaku taikei: Meijihen. All 30 series are accessible online. 開化風俗誌集,  漢詩文集, 漢文小説集, 和歌 俳句 歌謡 音曲集, 海外見聞集, 落語怪談咄集, 講談人情咄集, 河竹黙阿弥集, 明治戯作集, 福澤諭吉集, 教科書啓蒙文集, 新体詩 ; 聖書 ; 讃美歌集, 明治実録集, 翻訳小説集 1, 翻訳小説集 2, 政治小説集 1, 政治小説集 2, 坪内逍遙 二葉亭四迷集, 尾崎紅葉集, 泉鏡花集, 硯友社文学集, 幸田露伴集, 女性作家集, 樋口一葉集, 森鷗外集, キリスト者評論集, 正岡子規集, 国木田独歩 宮崎湖処子集, 風刺文学集, 明治名作集.

CD-ROM version of the Shinpen Kokka taikan. The Kokka taikan is a collection of Japanese traditional poetry from anthologies and narratives such as the Man’yoshu, Chokusen wakashu, Genji monogatari and Heike monogatari. The Kokka taikan includes 450,000 poems which are searchable by keywords and phrases, and by the unique number assigned to each poem. Access is only on one computer in the East Asian Library Catalog Room.

The online edition of Shintei zōho Kokushi taikei (新訂増補国史大系) is accessible via JapanKnowledge. Shintei zōho Kokushi taikei, published by Yoshikawa Kōbunkan (1998-2001), covers the fundamental pre-modern works of Japanese history. The online edition contains total 66 volumes (60 volumes plus supplements) in PDF including Kojiki, Nihonshoki, Azuma Kagami, Tokugawa Jikki, Honchō Seiki, Nihon Kiryaku, Hyakuren Shō, Nihon Isshi, Zokushi Gushō, Ritsu, Ryō no gige, Ryō no shuge, Engishiki, Ruijū Sandaikaku, etc. Full-text search is available by keywords, proper nouns, etc. that appear in the main text.

Governmental statistical bureau of Japan. Available in English and (fuller) Japanese.

This is one of the largest journals originally published by Hakubunkan from the Meiji to Showa periods (1895 to 1928). Taiyo covers comprehensive fields including history, art, science, literature, literary criticism, politics, economics, etc. with approximately 6,500 contributors.

The (Takita Choin kyūzō) Kindai sakka genkō (近代作家原稿集) database is part of the Nihon Kindai Bungakukan collection within JapanKnowledge.

This database is a manuscript collection of modern writers involved with Takita Choin, the chief editor of Chuō Korōn, such as Tokuda Shūsei, Tokutomi Sohō, and Satomi Ton.  The collection contains 209 titles, the repeated revisions and editing of which can be traced.

The Records of the Emperor and the Imperial Family in 135 volumes plus a supplementary volume are a chronological record of the historical traces of successive Japanese emperors from Emperor Jinmu to the 121st Emperor Komei, as well as the five emperors of the Northern Court, Emperor Kogon, Emperor Komyo, Emperor Suko, Emperor Gokogon, and Emperor Goenyu, and also including the empresses and consorts, relatives of the emperors, and imperial princesses (with the exception of the four families of the imperial princes of Fushiminomiya, Katsuranomiya, Arisugawanomiya, and Kanninnomiya), prepared in the pre-war period through extensive research conducted by the Department of the Imperial Household on all extant documents and records available at the time. Further description: https://japanknowledge.com/en/contents/tennokozoku/index.html. The database is part of our access to JapanKnowledge.

The Toyo Keizai Archives cover the Toyo Keizai Shimpo from the inaugural issue in November 1895 to the December 15, 1945 issue, for a total of 2,300 issues and 170,000 pages. Topics  include the economic modern history in Asia, politics, diplomacy, the Constitution of Japan, media, and journalism. 

Toyo Keizai Archives is accessible through JapanKnowledge Lib (click on login).

A database of information provided in jobatsu (prefaces and endnotes) and kanki (colophons) in the microfilmed collection of Chinese classical literature published in Japan and held in the Kokubungaku kenkyū shiryōkan.

The first set of this collection includes transcriptions of historical records from the Heian Kamakura period to the Nanboku-chō period. The collection includes the diaries by emperors, important officials, and poets of the time.
The database supports copying and pasting of full-text data. Old character forms have been converted to new character forms (both forms are searchable). Further description: https://mirai.kinokuniya.co.jp/catalog/jkbooks_shiryosanshu. The database is part of our access to JapanKnowledge.

This database indexes consists millions of entries from Japanese popular journals that are not covered by MagazinePlus. If you would like to obtain copies from Web Oya-bunko, please consult Japanese studies librarian. 

The WhoPlus database contains biographical information on a total of  610,000 historical and contemporary people. Entries link to MagazinePlus which enables one to find citations and links to the works of that person.

The information comes from the following titles: Jinbutsu refarensu jiten, Bijutsu sakuhin refarensu jiten, Shashin refarensu jiten, and Umi o koeta Nihon jinmei jiten.

Yūhō Bunko (友邦文庫) is an archival collection of rare and highly valuable materials related to the Chōsen Sōtoku-fu (Government General of colonial Korea) hosted by the J-DAC (Japan Digital Archives Center). The collection includes official documents, publications, memos and handwritten reports brought by officials of the former Chōsen Sōtoku-fu, who were principles in determining the policies of the rule of Korea. The Yūhō Bunko also covers resources of the repatriations and overseas assets after the war such as the 'Association for the care of repatriates returned to Korea' and the 'Association of Korean Business Operators.

The online version of the Yomiuri Shinbun contains searchable newspaper articles from 1874 through 1989 in image format, and from 1986 in full text. Also included is a Who's who of 26,000 people and the English-language Daily Yomiuri since 1989. When arriving at the home screen, please click the button "ログインページはこちら ".

Index to periodical articles published in Japanese, including those in former Japanese colonies. Coverage is from 1868 to the present.

Index to the union list of Chinese books held in Japan.